Japanese citizen runner seeks glory in Moscow

He has no coach, no sponsor and works five days a week as a school clerk, but that won't stop Japanese marathon runner Yuki Kawauchi from racing with the best at the world championships, which start on Saturday in Moscow.

Dubbed the "strongest citizen runner in history", Kawauchi squeezes races into his weekends, travelling at home and overseas before returning to work every Monday.

In doing so, the 26-year-old has become a cult hero in marathon-mad Japan. "I want to show that you can compete at the world level even if you have a job like I do," he said.

Kawauchi's unusual success story has helped fuel the nation's ever-intensifying enthusiasm for running, which saw a spike in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami disaster prompted many to improve their fitness in preparation for emergencies.

"I will run straight and steady, aiming for a spot in the top six," Kawauchi said of competing in Moscow on August 17.

His target may sound modest. But Japanese men have been without a world-class marathon medal since Tsuyoshi Ogata brought home bronze from the 2005 world championships. Japanese women have done much better, winning the 2000 and 2004 Olympic golds through Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi while bagging five non-gold world medals since 2001.

Despite having little time to spare between his full-time administrative job at a school in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Kawauchi has run in 22 long-distance events so far this year, which is a lot compared with most elite runners. These include six full marathons, 10 half-marathons and a 50-kilometre "ultra-marathon" in June, in which he collapsed with heat stroke.