Previews08 Mar 2006


Shibui's mission - Nagoya Women’s Marathon PREVIEW

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Yoko Shibui crosses the line to win in Berlin (© Victah Sailer)

The 2006 Nagoya International Women’s Marathon, will be held on Sunday 12 March in Nagoya, Japan, and doubles as one of the national selection races for this year’s 15th Asian Games in Doha.

The Japanese women’s marathon team for the Asian Games will be selected from the top finishers in the 2005 Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, the 2006 Osaka Ladies Marathon and the 2006 Nagoya Women’s Marathon.  Fourteen invited runners including five runners from abroad and two pace makers will start on Sunday along with 231 runners who qualified for the marathon by running either a sub 3:15 marathon or a 1:30 half marathon during the last two years. 

Shibui, back to her best?

The most notable runner in the field, who is also the favourite is Yoko Shibui, the Japanese 10,000m record holder who is also a former national marathon record holder.  Shibui made a stunning marathon debut at the 2001 Osaka Ladies Marathon, where she won in a world debut best of 2:23:11.  Shibui then finished fourth at the World Championships in Edmonton, and in 2002 set a national 10,000m record of 30:48.89, and improved her marathon PB to 2:21:22.  However, although Shibui was one of the favorite to make the 2004 Olympic team, she was only 9th in the 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon, and so was left out.  She came back with vengeance at the 2004 Berlin marathon, where she set a national marathon record of 2:19:41 but then again last year at the Nagoya Women’s marathon, when attempting to make the World Championships team, only finished seventh.

Hiroyama, Ominami, and Hashimoto, the principal challengers

Second fastest runner in the field is Harumi Hiroyama, who has the marathon personal best of 2:22:56, recorded at the 2000 Osaka Ladies Marathon.  A former national record holder at 1500m, 3000m and 5000m, Hiroyama finished eighth at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.  Hiroyama is a three-time Olympian, having run the 5000m in Atlanta, and 10,000m in Sydney and Athens.  In her most recent race, the Marugame Half Marathon, Hiroyama was fourth in 1:10:59. 

Hiromi Ominami set her personal best at the 2004 Berlin Marathon, when she finished second to Shibui in 2:23:26.  Unlike her twin sister Takami, who has run in the two World Championship marathons, Hiromi has not run in the global championships. However, she finished third in the 2002 Asian Games Marathon. 

Another past Berlin champion is Yasuko Hashimoto, who won the 2003 Berlin Marathon with 2:26:32.  She improved her marathon personal best in the last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon to 2:25:21.  Hashimoto also excels at the half marathon, having finished ninth at the 2000 World Half Marathon championships and recorded the personal best of 1:08:55 in 2001. 

All four runners mentioned above have run the Nagoya marathon before, so they should be familiar with the course as well as its windy condition. 

Two more names could make it interesting

Chika Horie, who always excels at the Hokkaido Marathon, having finished third, second and first in her last three marathons in Sapporo, has the personal best of 2:26:11, which was recorded in the 2002 edition of the race. 

Having set two world junior 20Km bests, Kazue Ogoshi’s marathon debut at the 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon was a much anticipated event.  However, she could not even break the 2:30 barrier.  A year later Ogoshi improved her marathon personal best but it still wasn’t what people had hoped for.  Thus in her third marathon, Ogoshi will be out to prove herself.

Foreign challenge

As always is the case in Nagoya, foreign invited runners is not the same strength as at many other Japanese events. Although three runners with sub-2:30 marathon best are invited, their personal best are quite old.  The fastest runner from abroad is Alina Ivanova of Russia, whose marathon best is 2:25:34 from the 2001 London Marathon.  More recently, Ivanova finished fourth in the 2005 Hamburg marathon in 2:31:22, and 20th at the World Championships in Helsinki.  The next fastest foreigner is Grazyna Syrek of Poland, who recorded 2:26:22 when she was fifth in the 2003 Chicago Marathon.  More recently, she was 10th in the 2005 Chicago Marathon in 2:36:32.  The third sub 2:30 marathon runner Alina Tecta Gherasim of Romania who was second in the Paris Marathon in 2000 when she recorded 2:28:18. 

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

Invited Runners: 
Name    Personal Best  Venue
Alina Ivanova (RUS)   2:25:34 2001 London
Grazyna Syrek (POL)    2:26:22 2003 Chicago
Alina Tecta Gherasim (ROM)  2:28:18 2000 Paris
Tatiana Borisova (KGZ)   2:30:39 2004 Austin
Mulu Seboka (ETH)   2:30:54 2005 London

Japanese
Yoko Shibui   2:19:41 2004 Berlin
Harumi Hiroyama  2:22:56 2000 Osaka
Hiromi Ominami  2:23:26 2004 Berlin
Yasuko Hashimoto  2:25:21 2005 Nagoya
Chika Horie   2:26:11 2002 Hokkaido (Sapporo)
Maya Nishio   2:30:16 2004 Nagoya
Kazue Ogoshi   2:32:11 2005 Osaka
Kaori Tanabe   2:32:31 2001 Boston
Ayumi Hayashi  2:33:37 2005 Nagoya

Pace makers
Alevtina Ivanova (RUS) 2:29:05 2003 Nagano
Natalya Berkut (UKR) 

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