Ipswich athlete Dave Copland flies flag in Japan

IPSWICH triathlete Dave Copland flew the flag for his home club on the other side of the world in a major marathon challenge.

Dave, a member of Ipswich Triathlon Club, was actually on holiday when he decided to tackle the Koukyo Marathon Challenge in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

He was the only non-Japanese athlete in the 1,000 strong field and did the Suffolk club proud with 6th place in the 30km event. In Japan any long distance running race is described as a marathon; this event took in six laps round the Imperial Palace in the Koukyo district.

Dave won a large trophy and a technical t-shirt race memento plus a personal hand-painted race certificate – the race organiser is a brush calligraphy expert.