Running with support from JRN, Takumi Oishi and Haruka Yamaguchi will be making their Canadian debuts at Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon . Japan's Olympic marathon trials are the hardest marathon in the world to qualify for, and both Oishi and Yamaguchi will be going for times that will help put them in position to make the September 2023 trials race. The auto-qualifier times for races outside Japan, 2:08:00 for men and 2:24:00, are pretty ambitious, but with an option for qualifying via a two-race average of 2:10:00 for men and 2:28:00 for women both Oishi and Yamaguchi will be aiming to get under those times in Ottawa before hitting a second race next winter. Oishi, a graduate of Josai University , was 4th on the Eighth Stage at the 2018 Hakone Ekiden. He now runs for the Suzuki corporate team alongside 2021 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Michael Githae . His coach at Suzuki is Arata Fujiwara , who won Ottawa in 2010 in 2:09:34, the first man to brea...
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