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Nagano Marathon Proudly Welcomes Tejeda and Yoshida

by Brett Larner

With its long history of hosting Russians now interrupted by the IAAF's doping scandal suspension of all Russian athletes, Japan's Nagano Marathon proudly welcomes two other athletes with recent drug suspensions to lead the women's field at next weekend's 18th edition.  Gladys Tejeda (Peru) tops the list with the loss of her gold medal in last summer's Pan-Am Games marathon after testing positive for the masking agent furosemide.  Close behind is Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse), who holds the honor of being the only Japanese athlete to have been publicly suspended for EPO after testing positive at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon.

With both having run 2:28 bests last year they are almost 4 minutes ahead of the fastest athlete in the field never to have served a drug suspension, Kenya's Hellen Mugo.  Neither is currently under suspension, an indication that Nagano and its elite coordinator share the familiar focus here on details at the expense of the bi…

'Morita Signs Up for Brighton'

A Brighton Marathon press release

The Brighton Marathon will be breaking new ground when Japan’s Tomoyuki Morita lines up on April 6. Morita is the first Japanese athlete to compete in the race which celebrates its fifth edition this year. He joins a quality line-up as the Brighton Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label event, welcomes its most outstanding men’s elite field to date.

With a personal best of 2:09:12, Morita is the second fastest in a race that features four men who have run faster than the course record of 2:10:46. Kenya’s William Chebor, 31, heads the line-up. He clocked 2:08:21 in Turin three years ago and comes to Brighton off the back of his most recent win in Jakarta last October.

Morita, 29, who set his lifetime best at Lake Biwa in 2012, will also clash with course record holder, Dominic Kangor of Kenya. Morita’s half marathon best of 61:55 stems from Marugame 2012.
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For more information contact: Press Officer Michael Butcher mi…

2014 Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women's Marathon on Jan. 26, 2014, have announced their elite field.  With places on the 2014 Asian Games team at stake, national record holder, Athens Olympics gold medalist and 2003 Osaka winner Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) leads the way along with fellow late-career greats Mari Ozaki (Team Nortiz) and 2011 Osaka winner Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), the latter of whom has already announced her retirement following Osaka.  Noguchi was on the entry list the last two years only to pull out shortly before the race and run March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon instead, so whether she actually starts remains to be seen.

Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) tops the younger set after showing great potential in Osaka last year, with Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) on the roster after struggling in all her marathons since winning Osaka in 2012 in a solid 2:23:23.  Promising debutantes include Sayo Nomura (Te…