Mika Kawauchi the mom of Yuki Kawauchi, ran a 3:41:52 in Boston in the same race her son won one year prior

2018 Boston champion Yuki Kawauchi’s mom, Mika Kawauchi, ran a 3:41:52 at Boston on Monday. The 54-year-old easily ran a BQ for next year and got to do it in the same race as her son.

Mika is an accomplished middle distance runner, and according to a story in the New York Times last October, she was Yuki’s first coach. The B.A.A. invited her to race at Boston this year.

“We are excited to have her run this year,” says B.A.A. communications manager Chris Lotsbom, whom we reached by email, “and believe it is the first time a parent of a defending champion has competed in the same race their son/daughter was racing in as defending champion.”

What few people know is that the Kawauchi’s are a running family. Yuki’s brothers Koki and Yoshiki are both runners. Mika ran her first marathon at Gold Coast in Australia in 2016 at age 52, finishing in 3:53.

Yuki ended up finishing in 17th place in Monday’s marathon in a time of 2:15:29 which was just 25 seconds faster than his 2018 winning time of 2:15:54.

posted Wednesday April 17th