Skip to main content

Osaka International Women's Marathon Announces 2010 Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The Osaka International Women's Marathon has announced the elite field for the 2010 edition of the race to be held on Jan. 31. The domestic field should prove to be quite interesting, headed by Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), including talented veterans Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and Kayoko Obata (Team Acom) and featuring promising first-timers Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) and Azusa Nojiri (Team Daiichi Seimei).

An elite women's marathon in Japan wouldn't be complete without Sydney Olympics silver medalist Lidia Simon (Romania), and Simon is sure enough slated to be on the starting line again this time along with Olympian Olivera Jevtic (Serbia), 2009 Los Angeles Marathon runner-up Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) and others.

2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon - Elite Field
click here for more detailed profiles and athlete photos
Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:22:54 (Osaka 2000)
Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 2:23:30 (Osaka 2003)
Kayoko Obata (Team Acom) - 2:25:14 (Osaka 2000)
Olivera Jevtic (Serbia) - 2:25:23 (Rotterdam 2003)
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 2:25:40 (Osaka 2009)
Marisa Barros (Portugal) - 2:26:03 (Seville 2009)
Chika Horie (Team Universal Ent.) - 2:26:11 (Hokkaido 2002)
Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) - 2:26:53 (Los Angeles 2009)
Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:28:50 (Osaka 2008)
Dulce Maria Rodriguez (Mexico) - 2:28:54 (Chicago 2006)
Yumi Hirata (Team Shiseido) - 2:29:23 (Nagoya 2008)
Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) - 1:10:16 (Jitsugyodan Half 2009)
Azusa Nojiri (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:53 (Jitsugyodan Half 2009)
Volha Krautsova (Belarus) - 1:11:33 (Philadelphia Half 2007)

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Takeshi Soh Reflects on 54 Years in the Sport on His Retirement as Asahi Kasei Head Coach

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tokumoto and Yamakawa Take Over at Shibaura Kogyo in Quest for Hakone Debut

In a quest to make its first Hakone Ekiden, Shibaura Kogyo University announced this week that former Surugadai University head coach Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, and former Reitaku University head coach Tatsuya Yamakawa , 40, will take over as head and assistant coach starting in April. In a statement issued by the university Tokumoto commented, "I'm pleased to have been named head coach of Shibaura Kogyo University's track and field team. When they came to feel me I could feel their passion about achieving their dream of becoming the first science and technology university to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. I was happy to accept because I felt that this was an environment in which I could grow too. It's my responsibility to help them become the 45th university ever to compete in Hakone. I hope that you'll enjoy Act II of the Tokumoto Show and cheer us on as Shibaura Kogyo heads down the road to Hakone." Yamakawa's comments read, "I arrived early in Feb...
1 comment
Read more

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...
1 comment
Read more