The first women's race in the 2020 Sapporo Olympic marathon team Final Challenge, the chance for a Japanese woman to pick up the third spot on the Olympic team by running 2:22:22 or better, in its 5th edition the Saitama International Marathon continues its slide toward oblivion as an elite race. The international field is good, and well-positioned to set it up for a Japanese woman to attack that kind of time with 2:21:53 Ethiopian Belaynesh Oljira and debuting 1:05:06 Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir in the foreground, but Japanese women have almost entirely given it a miss. Only one independent runner, Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) and one semi-corporate leaguer, Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) are on the entry list, raising the obvious question of why bother?
Saitama is popular as a mass-participation race, and it is raised a little higher by the quality of internationals it attracts. But as a national team selection race, it seems like only a matter of time before it loses that status to the Tokyo Marathon. The JAAF is no doubt worried about the hit in broadcast rights it would take if that happened, but as the MGC Race showed in September the potential is there to do a joint collaborative broadcast between two networks, one focusing on the women's race and one on the men's. If you build it and they don't come then it's time to let it go, and to let both Saitama and Tokyo focus on what they each do best.
5th Saitama International Marathon Elite Field
Saitama, 12/8/19complete field listing
times listed are best in last three years except where noted
Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia) - 2:21:53 (Frankfurt 2018)
Rahma Tusa (Ethiopia) - 2:23:46 (Rome 2018)
Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) - 2:25:39 (Osaka Int'l 2019)
Paskalia Chepkorir (Kenya) - 2:26:04 (Paris 2019)
Zerfie Limeneh (Ethiopia) - 2:26:48 (Paris 2019)
Zinash Debebe (Ethiopia) - 2:27:15 (Guangzhou 2018)
Kaori Yoshida (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:28:24 (Nagoya 2017)
Nina Savina (Belarus) - 2:29:06 (Warsaw 2019)
Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:30:09 (Fukuoka 2018)
Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) - debut - 1:05:06 (RAK Half 2017)
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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