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Looking Forward to Running With Naoko! Hara and Kano Join Nagoya Field

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/feature/niwm/CK2008020602085895.html
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2008/02/06/0000827072.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Feb. 5, two of the top contenders for the Beijing Olympic women's marathon team, both of whom withdrew from last month's Osaka International Women's Marathon, were added to the field for the final Olympic selection race, the Nagoya International Women's Marathon on Mar. 9.

Yumiko Hara (Team Kyocera) ran in the women's marathon at last summer's World Championships. She withdrew from Osaka, where she was the defending champion, the day before the race after coming down with a cold. Hara won her debut marathon at the 2005 Nagoya to qualify for the 2005 World Championships. She will be keen to qualify for the Olympics here as well.

Also joining the Nagoya field after withdrawing from Osaka is Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), the winner of last summer's Hokkaido Marathon. Kano retired from this year's Osaka after only 17 km due to pain in her left leg, but her Olympic dream was not finished. She did not want to wait four more years for another chance.

Sydney Olympic women's marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi (Team Phiten) is also scheduled to run Nagoya. While waiting for her plane to Second Wind's training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kano told reporters, "I probably won't have another chance to run with Takahashi. I'm so excited for it!"

photo caption: Yuri Kano leaving from Narita Airport for a training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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