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O'Keeffe, Hattori, Nakamura and Others DNS for Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half



At a pre-race press conference at Tokyo's New National Stadium on Oct. 14, the Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced the list of withdrawals from Sunday's inaugural Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon. On the women's side, #1-ranked Fiona O'Keeffe (U.S.A.) and collegiate marathon NR holder Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) were the two biggest names to pull out, O'Keeffe listed as sick and Maeda with injury.

On the men's side, Tokyo Olympic marathoners Yuma Hattori (Toyota) and Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) were the biggest losses given the event's intent of commemorating the Olympic and Paralympic races, both athletes listed as injured. Other prominent withdrawals include former NR holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), 2022 National Corporate 10000 m champion Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku), 2021 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Michael Githae (Suzuki), 2022 Twin Cities Marathon winner Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Shin Nihon Jusetsu).

Para athlete withdrawals include Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon), Kota Hokinoue (Yahoo) and Hiroki Nishida (Baccarat Pacific).

Top athletes remaining for Sunday's race:

Women
Betsy Saina (U.S.A.) - 1:07:49 (Marugame 2019)
Dolphine Omare (Kenya/U.S.E.) - 1:07:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Haruka Yamaguchi (A.C. Kita) - 1:09:50 (Gifu Seiyu 2022)
Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:09:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Caroline Nyaga (Kenya) - 1:10:00 (Trento 2019)
Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 1:10:18 (Sanyo Ladies 2021)
Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:11:02 (Sanyo Ladies 2021)
Kotona Ota (Japan Post) - 1:11:48 (Nagoya Women's 2022)
Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:49 (Nagoya Women's 2022) 

Men
Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 57:59 (Valencia 2020)
Benard Kimeli (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 59:32 (Herzogenaurach 2022)
Joseph Karanja (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 59:48 (Madrid 2021)
Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 59:51 (Ras al Khaimah 2020)
Vincent Kipkemoi (Kenya) - 1:00:00 (Malaga 2022)
Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:30 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2015)
Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/YKK) - 1:00:36 (Atlanta 2022)
Masato Kikuchi (Makes) - 1:00:43 (Marugame 2020)
Joel Mwaura (Kenya/Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:44 (Okukuma 2020)
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:26 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

text and photo © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Stefan said…
Haruka Yamaguchi (A.C. Kita) is running here too! She must have clocked some major miles this year. Perhaps another PB for her? The way her season is going I wouldn't be surprised.

What a shame to see Sairi Maeda pull out due to injury. It would have been a good test to see if MGC qualification later in the year or next year is a realistic goal. I recall she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics MGC race and had to withdraw due to injury. It would be great to see her make qualify and make the starting line up this time round.
October 14, 2022 at 4:15 PM
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