Blind marathon
Shinji
Yamashita
Profile
Date of birth March 21st, 1983
Place of birth Fukuoka
Date of joining COLOPL October. 2020
Affiliated organization Ohori-park Blind Runners Club

Shinji Yamashita loved sports since he was small.

When he graduated high school, his eyesight failed drastically and found out he got the disability.
There is no cure and it is a progressive disorder, but he started to think positively that things will work out.

He now thinks with his positiveness that there are challenges that only disabled people can work on.
He used to have been playing rugby since he was a student, but changed to blind marathon.
And he decided to join COLOPL looking for the way to improve the training environment to run faster.

Blind marathon is a team-sport, you can't run by yourself.
There must be a supporter and an escort runner who runs for goals with "bond".
Because he got visual disorder, he can feel the "bond" that connects people.

Thanks to the disorder, he can now see the big picture and he runs for the goal not by himself, but with the team.

image:Koichi Imai