Kawauchi Holds Off Koizumi for Seventh Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km Win

After giving it a miss last year to prepare for the London World Championships, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) returned to Hokkaido's Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km to rack up his seventh win. This year Kawauchi faced some competition from members of the Raffine corporate men's team, but within the first few kilometers he was already on his own. At 10 km he was 23 seconds up on Raffine's Hiroki