The First Ever Beer Mile in Japan

As far as we know anyway. Certainly the beer mile website database does not contain any beer mile events for Japan. So I think we have done the first one. Provided we can get it accepted.

And what a first one. The legendary Gareth Pugh has come in with a time of 9:28, putting him (unofficially at this stage) in fourth place in the WORLD for the grand masters (50+) category.

And a late starter, the irrepressible Satohi, set a national women's record of 10:08. This is now the benchmark by which the women of Japan shall forthwith be measured.

Keren went out hard and led for the first leg, but Gareth was steady and controlled and hauled him in on the second lap and was then never headed. Not only was he never headed, but he finished with a sprint and looked like he could have gone around for another 1600 m to do the Beer 3200!

Our visitor and inspiration for the race, all the way from Portland Maine, was our very own Pete Lyons. Surprisingly it was the chug-a-lugging that Pete seemed to struggle with. As seasoned Beer Miler Mateo said, there is very poor correlation between both running ability and drinking ability when it comes to the beer mile as you never know how the two will come together. Still, despite not having run since October 05, Pete put together a very respectable 11:08, which would put him in 8th place on the all time rankings for the Grand Masters Division. Pete thinks with a little practice he can better this mark and is booked in for the annual Bates College Beer Mile in the spring.

Mateo and Keren battled it out for the minor placings, with Mateo, despite having to run a penalty lap for an indiscrete barf, prevailing.

For the record, the author would have taken part but for some worrying lower back spasms. Next time, Gareth, next time...