japan running news

http://www.sankei.com/west/news/150114/wst1501140040-n1.html translated by Brett Larner The organizers of the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon announced on Jan. 14 that foreign invited elite athletes Margaret Agai (Kenya) and Karolina Jarzynska (Poland) have withdrawn with leg injuries.  With a 2:33:50 best from last year's Hannover Marathon, Kenyan Bornes Jepkirui was also named as an addition to the field.

by Brett Larner With a month to go the organizers of the Osaka International Women's Marathon have announced the elite field for their 34th running on Jan. 25.  Two-time winner Tetiana Gamera (Ukraine) returns to try to become the second woman in event history to win three-straight races, facing challenges from 2012 winner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), 2:23 Kenyan Margaret Agai , veterans Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia) and Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and more.  The promising Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) leads the younger talent along with the debuting Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu), a member of the bronze medal-winning Japanese women's team at this year's Copenhagen World Half Marathon Championships, in search of a place on the 2015 Beijing World Championships team.  Of special interest are former national team-level corporate league runners Remi Nakazato (unattached) and Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease), both pursuing their own routes outside the system. 34th Osaka In...

by Brett Larner Switching last year to a mass-participation format and billing itself as the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon returns this year as the final domestic selection race for the Moscow World Championships team.  Relative to its male counterpart, last weekend's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Nagoya's domestic field is somewhat impoverished, all the more so with the regrettably foreseeable withdrawal of 2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) with injury, and with all but one of the Japanese women in the field coming in at the 2:26 level or above it is hard to see there being a serious bid for the Federation's 2:23:59 time requirement for automatic nomination to the Moscow team. That one person is of course national record holder and Athens Olympics gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi  (Team Sysmex), who for the second year in a row pulled out of Osaka in January and refocused on Nagoya...

by Brett Larner In its second year as a mass-participation women-only marathon the Mar. 10 Nagoya Women's Marathon released its elite field on Feb. 21.  For Japanese women it is the last chance to make the 2013 World Championships in a domestic race, with Boston and London remaining within in the qualifying window.  National record holder Mizuki Noguchi  (Team Sysmex) tops the list after having pulled out of the Osaka International Women's Marathon for the second year in a row.  She made a comeback to the marathon in Nagoya last year after her Osaka pullout.  Will she start in Nagoya this year?  Place your bets now.  London Olympians Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) and Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu), both winners of other domestic women's marathons, and last year's Tokyo Marathon 4th-placer Eri Okubo  (Second Wind AC) round out the top end of the domestic field. The overseas field is strong.  Kenyan  Georgina Rono  looks lik...