Skip to main content

Akaba and Suwa Headline 2009 Sendai International Half Marathon

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2009/04/20090415t14022.htm
http://www.sendaihalf.com/jp/document/2009news0414a3.pdf

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The 19th edition of the Sendai International Half Marathon takes place May 10. Headlining the women's and men's fields are Beijing 5000 m and 10000 m Olympian Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and 2004 Athens Olympics men's marathon 6th place finisher Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin). Akaba made her marathon debut this year at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, finishing 2nd overall. This will be her fourth time running Sendai. Suwa was 7th in the 2007 Osaka World Championships marathon and continues to be one of the strongest of Japan's marathon men.

In the women's race, last year's runner-up Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) and 3rd place finisher and Sendai native Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) will return. Joining them are 2009 Osaka Half Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) and former world-class race walker Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren).

Other invited men include 2004 winner Kosaka Hoshina (Team Nissin Shokuhin), 2008 World Half Marathon national team member Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) and Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN). Defending champion Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.) and James Mwangi (Team NTN) will also run.

A total of 1284 runners are entered in the race. 41 further athletes are entered in the wheelchair division including Athens Paralympics marathon gold medalist Kazu Hatanaka (Hyogo Assoc.) and 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Wakako Tsuchida (Team Sanofi-Aventis).

2009 Sendai International Half Marathon Elite Field
Women
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:08:11
Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) - 1:08:31
Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 1:10:16
Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 1:11:03
Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 1:15:00

Men
James Mwangi (Team NTN) - 1:00:34
Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokusho Seiko) - 1:01:30
Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.) - 1:01:30
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 1:02:17
Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:02:36
Kosaka Hoshina (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:03:09
Labels:

Comments

dennis said…
I hope Mumbi wins. It's good that she come out and race after a mediocre run in paris. Some people like Mizuki Noguchi just disappear for 2 years without any news at all. Did Noguchi retire? It seems like Rikuren don't care about her any more. All they care about is Akaba.
April 16, 2009 at 4:59 AM
Brett Larner said…
Dennis--

Noguchi is still trying to come back. She is talking about running Berlin in September if all goes well.
April 16, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...
1 comment
Read more

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more