It was sakura season in Hokkaido and Maeve and Mano decided to head for Toya-Ko and run the 10K marathon around this lake.


We joined in the fun with 4 of hajet's (hokkaido jet group) very own musical stars, Kim and Dan (U.S.A) and Teresa(U.S.A) and Tim (Australia). Myself and Mano took the train from Sapporo on Saturday (20th May) and we headed for Nikappu where this year's hajet musical, "Guys 'n Dolls" was giving it's 2nd of 3 performances in it's 3 week tour of Hokkaido. That night, after a show-stopping performance this athletic group of 6 left Nikappu bound for Lake Toya. Here, we were hosted by Toya-ko's JET, Heidi, as we caught some shut eye the night before the marathon. Thanks for having us Heidi!



With registration kicking off at 8, we left Heidi's and picked up our entry forms, took a look at the course, and soaked up the sunny view of Mt. Yotei behind the lake.









There was time for a few last minute shots before attaching our timers and warming up.





By 10.20am, Teresa, our injured team member and hence nominated photographer was snapping pictures as we all took flight. (Otsukaresama Teresa!)