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Japan to Send Squad of 26 to 36th World Cross Country Championships

http://www.rikuren.or.jp/cgi-bin/column/view.cgi?act=stdview&id=250

translated by Brett Larner

Rikuren has announced the squad of 26 Japanese runners to be sent to the 36th World Cross Country Championships scheduled for Mar. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the Senior Men's 12 km event, the team of 8 is led by Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki), the top Japanese finisher in both the Chiba International and Fukuoka International Cross Country meets, along with Satoru Kitamura (Nittai University), the 2nd Japanese in Chiba and 3rd Japanese in Fukuoka. Appearing for the 4th time and 3rd consecutive year is Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Toyota Jidosha).

The team of 6 for the Senior Women's 8 km race is jointly led by Chiba International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) and Fukuoka International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Aya Manome (Team Shimamura). Joining the team for the 3rd straight year is Aimi Horikoshi (Team Yamada Denki).

The Junior Men's 8 km team of 6 features Chiba and Fukuoka short course winner Akinobu Murasawa (Saku Chosei High School), while the Junior Women's 6 km team of 6 includes Fukuoka competitor Atsuko Matsumura (Tokiwa High School), appearing for the 2nd straight year.

Complete listings of Japanese entrants are included below.

Senior Men
Makoto Tobimatsu, Team Yasukawa Denki (Fukuoka), 3rd time on team
Satoru Kitamura, Nittai University (Hyogo), 3rd time on team
Yuki Nakamura, Team Kanebo (Tokyo), 2nd time on team
Yoshitaka Iwamizu, Team Toyota Jidosha (Aichi), 4th time on team
Hiroyoshi Umegae, Team NTN (Mie), 1st time on team
Yuki Sato, Tokai University (Nagano), 3rd time on team
Tsuyoshi Ugachi, Komazawa University (Tochigi), 3rd time on team
Hidekazu Sato, Team Toyota Boshoku (Aichi), 4th time on team

Senior Women
Aya Manome, Team Shimamura (Saitama), 1st time on team
Kazuka Wakatsuki, Team Toto (Fukuoka), 1st time on team
Megumi Seike, Team Sysmex (Kyoto), 1st time on team
Aimi Horikoshi, Team Yamada Denki (Gunma), 3rd time on team
Yuko Nohara, Team Toyota Jidoshokki (Chiba), 3rd time on team
Kazue Kojima, Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto), 3rd time on team

Junior Men
Akinobu Murasawa, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Kenta Chiba, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Shun Kurihara, Kyushu Gakuin High School (Kumamoto), 2nd time on team
Hiroyuki Sasaki, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Hirotaka Tamura, Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori), 1st time on team
Ryuji Kashiwabara, Iwaki Sogo High School (Fukushima), 1st time on team

Junior Women
Atsuko Matsumura, Tokiwa High School (Gunma), 2nd time on team
Risa Takenaka, Ritsumeikan Uji High School (Kyoto), 1st time on team
Ayaka Mori, Suma Gakuen High School (Hyogo), 1st time on team
Asami Kato, Toyokawa High School (Aichi), 1st time on team
Yukino Ninomiya, Toyokawa High School (Aichi), 1st time on team
Yukari Abe, Sendai Ikuei High School (Miyagi), 1st time on team
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