Reiko Tosa (JPN) (© Getty Images)
Reiko Tosa, who had fallen behind Megumi Tanaka by nearly 10 seconds with less than 10Km to go, came back strongly to win today’s 2004 Nagoya Women’s Marathon in 2:23:57. Tanaka was second in a personal best of 2:24.47.
The race started at quite a slow pace, covering the first Kilometre in 3:32 and it could have turned into a slow tactical affair like the Osaka Ladies Marathon seven weeks ago but Reiko Tosa was having none of it.
She courageously took the initiative during the second Km, picking up the pace and so which reducing the lead pack to twelve runners. Eleven runners were together at 5Km (17:06), reducing to 10 by 10Km (34:19). In fact most of those runners stayed together for the next 15 Km with only Yasuko Hashimoto, 2003 Berlin marathon champion, of the major cointenders being dropped (22km).
Seven runners were still together at 25Km (1:25:51) but once again Tosa (at the 26Km aid station) increased the tempo and during the next four Km, Jelena Prokopcuka, Fumi Murata, Takami Ominami, Aki Fujikawa and Miki Oyama all lost contact. So the duel was set between Tosa and Megumi Tanaka for the right to claim the team berth for Athens.
At 32Km, Tanaka left Tosa behind taking a 4 seconds lead in the next kilometre and by 34Km, she was 8 seconds in front of Tosa.
However, Tosa then responded and began to reel in Tanaka, and by 37Km, the gap was only 3 seconds and finally at 37.4Km she caught Tanaka, and left her behind. During the last 5Km Tosa away with every step and at the end Tosa won by 50 seconds in 2:23:57.
“I was not going to give up as long as I could see the leader,” said Tosa. “As the fans along the course encouraged me, I thought about all the hard work I did, which gave me strength to keep on going. I want to go to Athens,” concluded Tosa, the World silver medallist from Edmonton.
Finishing 50 seconds later was Tanaka who recorded a huge personal best – 2:24.47.
“I am in the best marathon shape of my life,” confirmed Tanaka. “I did not realise Tosa was coming back to me until I was passed. Although I recorded a personal best, what I really wanted to was to win.”
Third was Aki Fujikawa (2:27:06) and fourth Miki Oyama (2:27:58).
Japanese team selection for Athens -
With Mizuki Noguchi pre-selected, only two slots are left on the Japanese women’s Olympic Marathon team from Naoko Sakamoto, Reiko Tosa and Naoko Takahashi – must be selected on Monday. It should be noted that Tosa ran the fastest time, 2:23:57 among the contenders in four qualifying races – World Cahmpionships in Paris, Tokyo Women’s Marathon, Osaka Ladies Marathon and Nagoya Women’s Marathon, while Sakamoto’s split in Osaka Ladies Marathon, 15:47 from 30Km to 35Km, shows her ability to change pace, the quality required to win a medal at the championships. The criterion mentioned several times in the past is “those who can medal or place high in the Olympic Games,” which should favour Sakamoto in the selection.
Just considering the results of qualifying races, it is hard to drop either Sakamoto or Tosa in favour of Naoko Takahashi, the defending Olympic champion who could only record 2:27:21 in her Olympic qualifying race, Tokyo Women’s Marathon.
How the past glory will be considered in the selection process, which favours Takahashi for women and Takaoka for men, is the big question on Monday for the selectors.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
with assistance from Akihiro Onishi.
Weather at the start time: temperature 16C, humidity 41%, wind 1.6m/s from East
Results (JPN unless otherwise noted)
1) Reiko Tosa 2:23:57
2) Megumi Tanaka 2:24:47
3) Aki Fujikawa 2:27:06
4) Miki Oyama 2:27:58
5) Fumi Murata 2:30:11
6) Takami Ominami 2:30:15
7) Maya Nishio 2:30:16
8) Eri Hayakawa 2:30:47
9) Jackie Gallagher (AUS) 2:32:40
10) Tatyana Gladyr (UKR) 2:32:55
11) Kaori Tanabe 2:33:22
12) Yasuko Hashimoto 2:35:01
Splits:
5Km 17:06
10Km 34:19 (17:13)
15Km 51:39 (17:20)
20Km 1:08:39 (17:00)
Half 1:12:29
25Km 1:25:51 (17:12)
30Km 1:42:26 (16:35)
35Km 1:59:23 (16:57)
40Km 2:16:31 (17:08)
Finish 2:23:57 (7:26)
Top finishers at Olympic Qualifying races:
World Championships in Paris Mizuki Noguchi 2nd 2:24:14 Pre-Selected
Tokyo Women’s Marathon Naoko Takahashi 2nd 2:27:21
Osaka Ladies Marathon Naoko Sakamoto 1st 2:25:29
Nagoya Women’s Marathon Reiko Tosa 1st 2:23:57
