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Suwa, Rothlin, Njenga, Kirui to Headline 2008 Tokyo Marathon

by Brett Larner

With exactly one month to go until race date the Tokyo Marathon released details on the field of elites who will be competing in the 2nd of Japan's Olympic selection races.

The domestic field is easily headlined by Team Nissin's Toshinari Suwa, a 2:07 marathoner who competed in the Athens Olympics and Osaka World Championships. Suwa had previously announced he would run March's Biwako Mainichi Marathon but he has evidently changed strategy in his attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympic marathon team. Other domestic contenders include Team Kanebo's Satoshi Irifune who competed in the Helsinki World Championships, veteran Olympian Kenjiro Jitsui also of Team Nissin, and younger runners Kenichi Kita and Kazushi Hara. Several strong runners are not among the elite field but have entered as individuals, including Team Chugoku Denryoku's Teruto Ozaki and Kurao Umeki, Team Nissin's Kazuyoshi Tokumoto, and Team JAL Ground Service's Takayuki Nishida.

The foreign elite field includes defending champion Daniel Njenga of Kenya, Osaka World Championships marathon bronze medalist Viktor Rothlin of Switerland, 2-time Olympic marathon medalist Eric Wainaina of Kenya, 2-time Olympian Jon Brown of Canada, 2007 Biwako Mainichi Marathon winner Samson Ramadhani of Tanzania, Boston Marathon winner Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia, and 2007 Berlin Marathon 2nd place finisher Abel Kirui of Kenya. Olympian Julius Gitahi of Kenya is entered in the individual division.

As with last year, Tokyo has not organized an elite women's field. Instead the race has invited an impressive range of retired runners to participate in the marathon and 10 km as guests. Guest runners include 2-time Olympic medalists Rosa Mota, Valentina Egorova and Yuko Arimori, Sydney Olympic marathon silver medalist Lidia Simon, Stuttgart World Championships marathon medalists Junko Asari and Tomoe Abe, Olympians Masako Chiba and Eriko Asai and veteran Mari Tanigawa.

A complete list of the elite field is available here. A list of guest runners is here.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
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