Organisers of the Fukuoka International Marathon have announced their elite field for the World Athletics Gold Label road race on 6 December.

Marathons ask so many questions, not least the one asked of every runner from the fastest to the slowest: how to hold it together when things get tough in the last 10km.

The Japanese Athletics Federation (JAAF) has named its team for the road events at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, which will run from 27 September until 6 October.

Known as the “Citizen Runner” because he fits in running around a full-time job, Yuki Kawauchi often competes in excess of a dozen marathons every year. Here the three-time World Championship marathon representative for Japan and 2018 Boston Marathon victor explains more about his passion for running.

Organisers of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon have announced that Boston Marathon champion Yuki Kawauchi and Japanese 5000m record-holder Suguru Osako will join the elite field for the IAAF Gold Label road race on 7 October.

Yuki Kawauchi and Desiree Linden were the winners of a Boston Marathon which overturned every possible form book of the IAAF Gold Label road race on Monday (16).

Japan's Yuki Kawauchi took top honours in the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label road race, on Sunday (18).

When Yuki Kawauchi last raced the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon, it took a course record to beat him. Two years on from that run, the prolific racer from Japan will return to the IAAF Silver Label road race seeking not only victory but an improvement on the course record on Sunday (18).

Kenneth Mungara will be chasing a unique treble at the Gold Coast Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday (2).

Runners can usually be put into one box or another. Fans often apply contrasting tags: front-runner versus sit-and-kicker, record breaker versus championship winner, cool tactician versus slug-it-out competitor.

This year’s Gold Coast Airport Marathon on 2 July will feature a rematch between Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara and Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi, the two men who last year fought out the closest finish in the history of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Japan has chosen the three men and three women who will represent them in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.