Skip to main content

Akaba, Davila and Watanabe Headline 32nd Running of Sanyo Women's Road Race

http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/feature/sports/other/2013/11/30/20131130225458.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The invited athlete list for Japan's last major road race of the year, the 32nd Sanyo Women's Road Race on Dec. 23 in Okayama, was released by race organisers on Nov. 30. Coinciding with main sponsor Sanyo Newspapers' 135th anniversary, the Yuko Arimori Cup half marathon division at the Sanyo Women's Road Race will for the first time be a selection race for the World Half Marathon Championships national team, with next year's World Half due to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark next March.

Targeting the first three-peat in Sanyo history, 2013 National Corporate Half Marathon champion Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) heads the invited field along with 2013 Hokkaido Marathon winner Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) and, from overseas, London Olympian Desiree Davila (U.S.A.).  Others in the half  marathon include past World Championships marathoners Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) and Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease), 23-year-old local Tenmaya corporate team runners Aki Odagiri and Rei Ohara and veterans Yuri Kano (Team Shiseido) and Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz).

In the Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km division, Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Entertainment) lends international quality to help make this year one of the most competitive on record.  Facing here are Tenmaya's 19-year-old great hope, Akari Ota, local Kojokan H.S. graduate Katsuki Suga (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) and former national champion Ritsumeikan University ace Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido).

Akaba has announced that she will retire following January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, making Sanyo one of her final races.  In her absence, other top-placing Japanese athletes in Sanyo will have a chance to earn one of the five places available on the World Half team.  Along with Sanyo, top finishers in last summer's National Championships 10000 m and next February's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships will be given consideration for team nomination.

The race starts and finishes at Concourse Stadium in Okayama.  The half marathon gets underway at 10:00 a.m., with the 10 km division starting at 10:15.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

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

“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