Skip to main content

Akaba and Sato to Lead World Half Marathon Team

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090706/oth0907061745029-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

On July 6 Rikuren announced the names of the five men and five women who will make up the Japanese national team for this year's World Half Marathon Championships to be held on Oct. 11 in Birmingham, U.K. Leading the men's team is Beijing Olympics and Berlin World Championships marathoner Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), the half marathon national record holder. The women's team will be headed by Berlin World Championships marathon medal favorite Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), a double Beijing Olympian on the track. For all the athletes chosen for the team, the World Half represents the next step in their careers.

2009 World Half Marathon Championships Team Lineup
Men
Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku)
PB - 1:00:25 (Udine '07) - NR
2nd, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
9th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota)
PB - 1:01:41 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN)
PB - 1:02:17 (Jitsugyodan '09)
3rd, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team JAL Ground Service)
PB - 1:02:49 (Jitsugyodan '08)
5th, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Tomomi Itakura (Team Otsuka Seiyaku)
PB - 1:02:58 (Sapporo '09)
11th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 3rd Japanese

Women
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren)
PB - 1:08:11 (Jitsugyodan '08) - CR
1st, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09
Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya)
PB - 1:09:20 (Sapporo '09)
1st, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09
3rd, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - top Japanese
Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu)
PB - 1:10:03 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Jitsugyodan Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese
Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu)
PB - 1:10:16 (Jitsugyodan '09)
4th, Sapporo Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 3rd Japanese
Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon)
PB - 1:11:27 (Sendai '09)
3rd, Sendai Int'l Half Marathon '09 - 2nd Japanese

Translator's note: In the three selection races for the World Half team Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) on the men's side and Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) on the women's were ahead of other runners named to the team. This may say something about Takahashi and Sahaku's plans for the fall season.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more