japan running news

Yuko Kawakami , Chiemi Takahashi , Ikumi Wakamatsu and Mari Ozaki go sub-32 as they battle to qualify for the 1999 World Seville World Championships. Future international-level marathoners Mizuki Noguchi , Takami Ominami , Megumi Oshima , Yuri Kano , Kayoko Obata , Yasuko Hashimoto and more were also in the race.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009022500755 translated by Brett Larner Citing a decline in the strength of the business environment, the Oki electronics company announced on Feb. 25 that effective Mar. 31 it is eliminating its running team, known as one of the strongest professional women's squads. The team currently includes six athletes along with a support staff of eleven. Oki has pledged to assist its runners with finding positions in other teams and to provide jobs within the company for those athletes who may wish to remain as ordinary workers. The company's public relations office issued a statement saying, "We genuinely regret the necessity of taking this step. We offer our most sincere apologies to team members whose activities we have supported until now and thank them for all their efforts." The Miyazaki-based Team Oki was founded in 1986. In 1988 Hidekoku Hiroshima, the man who developed the Soh brothers Shigeru and Takashi into legendary marat...