Skip to main content

Akaba, Chepyego Top Sanyo Road Race Field of 364

http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/news_s/news/d/2012120123222333/

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 31st Sanyo Ladies Road Race in Okayama have finalized the elite field for the Dec. 23 race.  130 women will line up in the Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon division, with 234 in the Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km division, making for a combined field of 364 that almost ties last year's record number of entries, 366.

2011 Daegu World Championships marathon 5th-place finisher Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and other world-class competitors will grace the streets of Okayama with their running.  Having set the half marathon course record of 1:09:16 last year, it looks as though Akaba will again be the one dictating the terms of competition.  2011 Tokyo Marathon winner Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) should be her major rival.  Local Team Tenmaya will supply Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura, team captain Yuka Izumi and first-year pro Nanami Matsuura.  Also on the entry list are Noriko Matsuoka (Second Wind AC), Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) and Misato Horie (Team Noritz).

Tenmaya will also put rookie Akari Ota in the 10 km division, where she will have plenty of competition from 2010 Sanyo half marathon and 10 km division winners Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko), 2010 National Sports Festival 5000 m winner Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) and 2012 National University Women's Ekiden Championships stage winners Chisaki Takegami and Aya Kuwabara of runner-up Bukkyo University and Kenyan Graze Kimanzi (Team Starts).

The races start and finish at Kanko Stadium, with the half marathon going off at 10:00 a.m. and the 10 km at 10:15.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Fujitsu and Toyoda Issue Statement on Circumstances of His Two-Year Suspension for Trenbolone

  Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda 's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations , the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team , explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case. Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19, 2022, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) conducted a doping test of Toyoda. The prohibited substance trenbolone was detected in urine taken during the test, resulting in a two-year suspension that began May 21, 2022. He did not compete at the National Track and Field Championships the next month. The amount of trenbolone detected in Toyoda's urine sample was 1.4 ng/ml, well below the minimum analytical precision of 2.5 ng/ml required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for analytical equipment. As a general rule, if a non-specified prohibited substance such as trenbolone is dete

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

“The Miracle in Fukuoka” - Real Talk From Yuki Kawauchi on “Taking on the World” (part 1)

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/column/detail/201701120002-spnavi translated by Brett Larner Ahead of his nomination to the London World Championships Marathon team, Sportsnavi published a three-part series of writings by Yuki Kawauchi on what it took for him to make the team, his hopes for London, and his views on the future of Japanese marathoning.  With his place on the London team announced on Mar. 17 , JRN will publish an English translation of the complete series over the next three days. See Sportsnavi's original version linked above for more photos. Click here for part two, " Bringing All My Experience Into Play in London ," or here for part three, " The Lessons of the Past Are Not 'Outdated.' " The Fukuoka International Marathon was held on Dec. 4 last year. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) took part despite nursing injuries he had sustained in training. Falling rain contributed to less than ideal conditions during the race, but from th