Skip to main content

Akaba and Sato to Lead World Half Marathon Team

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090706/oth0907061745029-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

On July 6 Rikuren announced the names of the five men and five women who will make up the Japanese national team for this year's World Half Marathon Championships to be held on Oct. 11 in Birmingham, U.K. Leading the men's team is Beijing Olympics and Berlin World Championships marathoner Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), the half marathon national record holder. The women's team will be headed by Berlin World Championships marathon medal favorite Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), a double Beijing Olympian on the track. For all the athletes chosen for the team, the World Half represents the next step in their careers.

2009 World Half Marathon Championships Team Lineup
Men
Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku)
PB - 1:00:25 (Udine '07) - NR
2nd, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
9th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota)
PB - 1:01:41 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN)
PB - 1:02:17 (Jitsugyodan '09)
3rd, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team JAL Ground Service)
PB - 1:02:49 (Jitsugyodan '08)
5th, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Tomomi Itakura (Team Otsuka Seiyaku)
PB - 1:02:58 (Sapporo '09)
11th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 3rd Japanese

Women
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren)
PB - 1:08:11 (Jitsugyodan '08) - CR
1st, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09
Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya)
PB - 1:09:20 (Sapporo '09)
1st, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09
3rd, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu)
PB - 1:10:03 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu)
PB - 1:10:16 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 3rd Japanese
Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon)
PB - 1:11:27 (Sendai '09)
3rd, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese

Translator's note: In the three selection races for the World Half team Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) on the men's side and Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) on the women's were ahead of other runners named to the team. This may say something about Takahashi and Sahaku's plans for the fall season.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more