Yoko Shibui crosses the line to win in Berlin (© Victah Sailer)
Osaka, JapanThe 2007 Osaka Ladies Marathon, which doubles as the selection race for the Japanese Marathon team for August’s World Championships in Athletics, will be held on Sunday (28). The first Japanese in the race will be automatically selected for the Marathon team provided she dips below 2:26. The course, which starts and finishes in the Nagai stadium, the venue for the upcoming World Championships, is the same as the course to be used when the world’s best compete in August.
Simon, Abitova lead international field
The invited foreign field is relatively weak this year, however, two runners who excel in shorter distances deserve special attention: Lucy Wangui of Kenya and Russian Inga Abitova.
Wangui, a Kenyan who runs for Suzuki, was ninth in the 10,000m at the 2004 Olympic Games, where she set her personal best of 31:05.90. More recently she won the 10,000m title at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She has a Half Marathon best of 1:09:47, which she recorded in the 2004 Japanese Corporate Team Half Marathon Championships, and in Osaka will be making her Marathon debut.
Abitova, the reigning European Champion at 10,000m, has two marathons to her credit. She won the 2005 Belgrade Marathon in 2:38:21, and finished second at Mumbai last year in 2:33:55. With a personal best of 30:31.42 for the 10,000m Abitova has, on paper, the potential to run sub-2:20. Her goal on Sunday is to run around 2:22 to 2:24.
Lydia Simon of Romania, who won in Osaka in 2000 clocking 2:22:54, is the fastest runner from abroad. Although Simon was the 2001 World champion over the distance, she has not run a fast Marathon in a while and will be looking for a solid performance here. Most recently, she was 11th at the Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon last October in 2:30:39. Another entrant with a sub-2:25 personal best is Nuta Olaru, also of Romania. Olaru was second at Chicago in 2004 in 2:24:33, a personal best. More recently she was sixth in Chicago last fall, reaching the line in 2:25:37.
Local focus on Shibui
Turning the attention to the Japanese, Yoko Shibui, with a marathon personal best of 2:19:41, is the fastest runner in the field. Although Shibui clocked 2:23:11 in Osaka in 2001, at the time the fastest debut ever, and then later the Japanese national record of 2:19:41 at the 2004 Berlin Marathon, she has not been quite consistent in recent years, and failed to make the Japanese Olympic Marathon team in 2004 as well as World Championships team in 2005. In her last two marathons, Shibui was second in the 2006 Nagoya Women’s Marathon with 2:23:58 and seventh in the 2005 Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2:27:40.
“I want fast pace,” said Shibui. “I don’t have any particular time goal, but my coach tells me that I should go out around 16:40 for each 5Km. Actually I want to go out faster.”
As part of her new training regimen, Shibui hasn’t run 40Km in training in the last two to three years, following the new training philosophy for her training group. In fact Reiko Tosa, Shibui’s teammate on the Mitsui Sumitomo track team, only completed one 40Km run before her win at the 2006 Tokyo Women’s Marathon. However Shibui’s times for other long runs indicates that she is in awesome shape. Just two days ago she completed a 35Km run in two hours and five minutes.
“She can go all the way at 3:10/Km pace,” said her coach.
In Osaka on Sunday, Shibui needs to show that she is yet over the hill. One problem for her might be the minor cold she suffered in the end of the last year. “It was just a sore throat. No fever,” said said.
Other Japanese prospects
Several young and promising runners are expected to line up at as well, among them Yumiko Hara, Tomo Morimoto, and Masami Sakata. Hara made a spectacular Marathon debut when she won the 2005 Nagoya Women’s Marathon in 2:24:19. Five months later at the World Championships in Helsinki, Hara challenged Paula Radcliffe. Despite going out fast with the Briton, Hara finished a respectable sixth in 2:24:20, merely one second short of the personal best.
“I don’t mind any pace, as long as it is even,” said Hara. “My altitude training in China has been based around long runs of 30Km to 40Km” she said, adding that her goal is break 2:26, the time needed to qualify for the World Championships squad. She was quite successful with both of her previous marathons, thus her third is eagerly anticipated.
Another runner to watch, also competing in her third race over the distance, is Tomo Morimoto, who was fifth in her debut in this race last year (2:27:46), before winning the Vienna Marathon in 2:24:33. According to her coach Yutaka Taketomi, her training was interrupted for a couple weeks due to snow in her altitude training site, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“Whether this training interruption was a good rest for her or not, only the time will tell,” said Taketomi.
“My training has not gone well because of an injury,” Morimoto revealed. “So I feel uneasy about going the distance.” In fact she did only one 30Km run in training.
Masami Sakata is running her second marathon, having finished fourth in this race last year (2:27:13). More recently, she was sixth at the Sapporo Half Marathon in 1:11:19, and 20th at the World Road Running Championships in 1:08:13 over the 20 Km distance.
“During my high altitude training in China, I injured my lower back,” Sakata said, “so I couldn’t do much speed training. But I was able to do lots of distance work.” Her goal to is the 2:26 barrier.
One other runner, Yuri Kano, who has the half marathon best of 1:10:28 from the 2003 Miyazaki Women’s Half Marathon, is making a Marathon debut. Kano has been training in Albuquerque as well, but because of snow her training has not gone that well either.
Rain is in the forecast for Sunday.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Invited Runners, with PB:
Lidia Simon (ROM), 2:22:54, 2000 Osaka
Nuta Olaru (ROM), 2:24:33, 2004 Chicago
Monika Drybulska (POL), 2:29:58, 2003 Berlin
Inga Abitova (RUS), 2:33:55, 2006 Mumbai
Lucy Wangui (KEN), 1:09:47, 2004 All JPN Corporate Half Marathon Champ
Pace Makers:
Adriana Pirtea (ROM), 1:09:59 (half), 2005 Lauversong
Simona Staicu (HUN)
Japanese:
Yoko Shibui, 2:19:41, 2004 Berlin
Mari Ozaki, 2:23:30, 2003 Osaka
Yumiko Hara, 2:24:19, 2005 Nagoya
Tomo Morimoto, 2:24:33, 2006 Wien
Masami Sakata, 2:27:13, 2006 Osaka
Kazue Ogoshi, 2:32:11, 2005 Osaka
Asami Obi, 2:32:36, 2005 Beijing
Yuri Kano, 1:10:28, 2003 Miyazaki Half Marathon
Not invited but notable:
Mara Yamauchi, 2:25:13, 2006 London
