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Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon Announces Elite Field

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/local/20080208/20080208_001.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 7 the organizing committee of the 46th Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon, sponsored by Kyushu Rikuren, Nobeoka City and the Nishi Nihon Newspaper Group, held a press conference at Nobeoka City Hall in Miyazaki Prefecture to announce the elite field for this year's race, to be held on Feb. 24. The invited field includes 24 athletes, 7 more than last year, with total entries standing at 356 runners, also up from last year.

The elite field includes several members of local team Asahi Kasei. Muneyuki Ojima, the fastest man in the field with a PB of 2:08:43, will be running his final race before retiring. Also appearing from Asahi Kasei are Fumiyuki Watanabe, who was injured and had to withdraw from last year's race, and Masaya Shimizu. These athletes will all be spurred on by the extra motivation of having watched their teammate Tomoya Adachi win the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 3.

Well-known runners from jitsugyodan teams across the country are also entered, with potential contenders including Tomonori Onitsuka (Team Kyudenko), Takuro Yamashita (Team Fujitsu), Yuki Mori (Team Sumco Techxiv), Tatsumi Morimasa (Team Chugoku Denryoku), and Tomoya Shiroyanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku).

Other noteworthy entrants include 2000 Sydney Olympic marathoner and Toyo University head coach Shinji Kawashima, and Team Nishitetsu's Hirokazu So, the son of Team Asahi Kasei's coach Takeshi So.

Takeshi So's identical twin brother Shigeru So will be one of the guest commentators for the race's TV broadcast. Also appearing as a commentator will be Miyazaki Prefectural Governor Hideo Higashikokubaru, who is running the Tokyo Marathon the week before Nobeoka.
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