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

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more