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Gebremariam and Horibata Withdraw From Fukuoka With Injuries

http://www.asahi.com/articles/SEB201311260038.html
http://www.asahi.com/articles/TKY201311140653.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 67th Fukuoka International Marathon announced on Nov. 26 that feature foreign invited athlete Gebre Gebremariam (Ethiopia) has withdrawn from Sunday's race with an injury to his left calf.  Gebremariam was the 2010 New York City Marathon champion and went on to run 2:04:53 at the heavily wind-aided 2011 Boston Marathon.  He placed 8th in the 10000 m at the 2012 London Olympics.

Also announced was the withdrawal of domestic elite Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) due to pain in his left knee.  At last year's Fukuoka Horibata ran a PB 2:08:24 to finish 2nd overall as the top Japanese man, qualifying for the 2013 Moscow World Championships marathon.  After suffering a stress fracture in the spring he dropped out of August's World Championships marathon at 13 km after experiencing difficulty.

Previously announced withdrawals include Andrew Carlson (U.S.A.), Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Viktor Rothlin (Switzerland).

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