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Rikuren Announces Nagoya International Women's Marathon Elite Field (updated)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20090226-OYT1T00793.htm
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090227k0000m050029000c.html
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/sports/news/CK2009022702000155.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Feb. 26 Rikuren released the names of the elite field for the Mar. 8 Nagoya International Women's Marathon, a selection race for the Berlin World Championships women's marathon team. Eleven women make up the domestic elite field, among them 2007 Tokyo Marathon winner Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) and 2003 Nagoya winner Takami Ominami (Team Toyota Shatai). The five elite foreign women include 2000 Sydney Olympics silver medalist Lidia Simon (Romania) and 2008 Beijing International Marathon winner Xue Bai (China). 303 runners make up the general division.

In addition to Niiya and Ominami, the domestic elite field includes last year's 5th place finisher Chika Horie (Team Aruze) and 7th place finisher Yumi Hirata (Team Shiseido). Making her marathon debut is Hirata's teammate Yoshiko Fujinaga, who came 3rd at this year's Marugame International Half Marathon. Sydney Olympics gold medalist Naoko Takahashi is running in the general division after having retired from professional running last October.

Nagoya is the final race in which domestic runners can earn a guaranteed spot on the five-member Berlin team. Already secure on the team are Tokyo International Women's Marathon winner Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) and Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). The top Japanese finisher in Nagoya will pick up the third guaranteed spot, while the second Japanese finisher will have a chance of being selected off a fast time.*

A complete listing of the Nagoya International Women's Marathon field is available here.

*Translator's note: The second Japanese in Nagoya will have to beat Osaka runner-up Yukiko Akaba's 2:25:40 to have a chance of being selected for the Berlin team and Tokyo runner-up Yuri Kano's 2:24:27 to be relatively secure.

2009 Nagoya International Women's Marathon Elite Field
Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:22:54 (Osaka '00)
Xue Bai (China) - 2:23:27 (Xiamen '08)
Takami Ominami (Team Toyota Shatai) - 2:23:43 (Rotterdam '02)
Kiyomi Ogawa (Team Kyocera) - 2:26:02 (Nagoya '05)
Chika Horie (Team Aruze) - 2:26:11 (Hokkaido '02)
Haruko Okamoto (Hyogo T&F Assoc.) - 2:27:01 (Osaka '02)
Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:28:50 (Osaka '08)
Tabitha Tsatsa (Zimbabwe) - 2:29:20 (Seoul '08)
Yumi Hirata (Team Shiseido) - 2:29:23 (Nagoya '08)
Chihiro Tanaka (Team Daitsu) - 2:29:30 (Nagoya '02)
Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 2:29:48 (Nagoya '06)
Caroline Cheptonui Kilel (Kenya) - 2:30:22 (Venice '03)
Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:31:01 (Tokyo '07)
Mika Hikichi (Team Tenmaya) - 2:31:03 (Nagoya '06)
Yuka Ezaki (Team Kyudenko) - 2:31:35 (Osaka '07)
Mika Hikita (Team Aruze) - 2:34:22 (Nagoya '02)
Sally Meyerhoff (U.S.A.) - 2:35:52 (Tempe '09)

Debut Marathoners With Half Marathon PB
Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) - 1:09:29
Kei Terada (Team Tenmaya) - 1:10:53
Aya Manome (Team Shimamura) - 1:10:59
Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 1:11:02
Yoshie Kitomi (Team Hokuren) - 1:13:55
Miki Oka (Team Daihatsu) - 1:14:00
Mizuho Kishi (Team Yamada Denki) - 1:15:02
Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 1:15:02
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Comments

Brett Larner said…
Now that the complete field is up I've updated the listings to include PBs.
February 27, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Anonymous said…
How come Mari Ozaki is not running? I thought she's trying to make the world championship team. And Megumi Seike should run. She learn a lot from mizuki noguchi. She's not gonna be competitive in track races. I think she should run a marathon.
February 27, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Anonymous said…
This years field sucks!!! I've never heard of these runners. And the past champion like Harumi Hiroyama, Yasuko Hashimoto, and Yurika Nakamura won't return!!! None of these runners deserve to run on the world championship team. Hara has way better form and experience than these runners. None of these runners ran 2:23:48. They'll run 2:29:00 pace.
February 28, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Anonymous said…
And Kiyoko Shimahara should run Nagoya. There's no point running tokyo if she won't get selected.
February 28, 2009 at 12:04 PM
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