From a Meet and Greet with New Balance Athletes Camille French and Nozomi Tanaka, to the New Balance Shakeout Run and Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2024’s Race Expo, women were empowered through New Balance’s ‘Run Your Way’ message.
Where there’s a marathon, there’s a party – and this was no different at the 2024 Nagoya Women’s Marathon and Nagoya City Marathon.
In support of the highly-anticipated annual mass participation event, New Balance Japan opened its doors to a ‘Run Your Way. Park’, the running community base in Nagoya’s Sakae district. The space also played host to the Nagoya Marathon's shakeout run and subsequent after-party, where some 200 by-invite-only attendees celebrated their achievements.
New Balance’s ‘Run Your Way’ campaign has gained significant traction all over the world including Singapore, with a powerful message of breaking down the sport’s stereotypes one run at a time.
Open for only a limited time, the park promotes the pure joy of running without the pressures of timings and results, encouraging the marathon’s participants to simply enjoy the event to the fullest and improve their relationship with running.
A day before the space was transformed into the shakeout run’s start point, Sportplus.sg sat down with New Balance Camille French and Nozomi Tanaka to uncover the impact running has had in their lives and what ‘Run Your Way’ meant to them.
Tanaka, who hails from Japan’s Hyōgo prefecture, is the current national record holder in the women’s 1000m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m categories. The 24-year-old also made her Olympic debut on home soil in 2020.
What is one trait you have as a runner which you feel defines you most?
Tanaka: I always get nervous during competitions, which I dislike. To help with that, I have small steps that I take to prepare myself to achieve the big goal. It's a precious time where I enjoy being a runner. After the competitions, I'll do some easy jogging to feel safe and happy.
You broke the Japanese 3,000m record in 2020, which was held for 18 years. During these long and very tough runs, how do you usually push yourself?
Tanaka: Year 2020 was the year I wanted to be the Number 1 in Japan. But now, making records is not my biggest motivation. I want to be equally fighting with other world class athletes like the kenyans. So that’s my motivation now.
If you could tell one thing to aspiring runners who are afraid to start running because of stereotypes, what would it be?
Tanaka: Don’t push yourself too hard. Just know that it’s not necessary to be a fast runner. Don’t forget to enjoy and have fun. Always take it easy, from there you’ll be able to run faster.
New Zealand’s French, who is also a Tokyo Olympian, is a nine-time national champion. The New Balance athlete doesn’t only specialise in 5km, half marathon and marathon categories, she is also a coach at Pulse Running – a community for aspiring runners based in Melbourne. Having guided countless hopeful runners, Run Your Way has been instilled in her.
How do you as a coach help them to celebrate their individuality?
French: Trying to make a plan around what works for them helps as a lot of people work full-time or have kids.Trying to find a balance that suits their training helps as well.
Sometimes, people want to train with others and other times, they want to do it on their own. As a coach, I have to try to figure out what suits each person as well as trying to focus on what they are trying to achieve at the same time.
In line with celebrating individuality with runners, as an athlete who excels in 5k, 10k, Half-Marathons and the Marathon itself, what about yourself as a runner do you feel proudest of?
It’s probably the first time I qualified for the Olympics. I was so proud of myself. I ran a PB of 31:13 for the 10K at the world championships too and ran a PB for 5K of 14:58 for the 5K qualifying world championships. Those are probably some of the proudest moments before having my daughter, Sienna. Since having her, I remember I ran under 70 minutes in the half-marathon, a year after having her and I was so proud of that.
What is one trait you have as a runner which you feel defines you most?
I guess it’s my love for racing. Also, I just love running and that’s part of who I am. It’s more like a lifestyle to me. It just makes me really happy.
Tanaka and French weren’t the only ones enjoying what the park had to offer. The Run Your Way. Park was filled with elite and amateur runners alike participating in a variety of activities and services such as running-shoe fittings, test runs with New Balance’s latest drops could be found.
‘Run Your Way’ at the Race Expo
The fun didn’t stop at the park. Over at the Nagoya Marathon Race Expo, runners and race participants swarmed the expo booths, with exhilaration at a high with a good variety of activities and New Balance products on show.
Arguably the most sought-after was the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2024 Limited Edition FuelCell Rebel v4. Exclusively sold at the Expo, its pretty turquoise colourway turned heads and tempted potential buyers with its limited availability.
Spruced up with booths providing ‘Run Your Way’ body paint stickers, short videos on running tips, and ‘Run Your Way’ photo frames, the lively Expo was opened until race day for all runners to enjoy and to soak in the true meaning of what it meant to celebrate individuality and break down stereotypes.
To read up on how the Nagoya Women’s Marathon and Nagoya City Marathon race day went, read our race day highlights and summary article here.