Catherine Ndereba wins the women's marathon (© Getty Images)
The 47th annual Sapporo Half Marathon, inaugurated as a marathon in 1958 (until 1973), then changed to a 30Km in 1974 (until 1986) and since 1987 organised as a half marathon, takes place this Sunday (4 July).
For women’s World Marathon champion Catherine Ndereba and her compatriot the reigning men’s Olympic silver medallist Eric Wainaina, and Japan’s Shigeru Aburaya the race will gauge their current fitness before this August’s Olympic Marathons. Last year, Ndereba set a course record, 1:08:23, before she won the World championships Marathon in Paris. She also won in 2002 with 1:08:57.
Women’s race
Top challengers to Ndereba are: Hiromi Ominami who was third in 2002 Asian Games and 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon, Yasuko Hashimoto who won the 2003 Berlin Marathon, and Miki Oyama who took the silver at the Half Marathon in the 2001 World University Games, and recorded a 2:27:58 debut marathon. Not to be overlooked is Yuki Saito, who holds national 10000m debut record, 31:49.29, and was fifth in the nationals.
Men’s race
Turning attention to the men, Kenyans living in Japan have won this race for the last ten years. Three past champions - John Kanyi (won in 1999 (1:01:32) & 2003), Laban Kagika (won in 2000 with 1:02:16) and two-time Olympic medallist Eric Wainaina (won in 1998 with 1:02:56) - will return. Not to be forgotten is a 2:06 marathon runner Daniel Njenga, who was second in 2002 with 1:01:34. The course record is 1:01:11 by Samuel Kabiru in 2002.
Top Japanese challengers are: Shigeru Aburaya who was fifth at the Marathon in the last two Worlds, Koji Shimizu who was 7th in Sevilla, Tsuyoshi Ogata who was 12th in Paris, and Atsushi Fujita a former national marathon record (2:06:51) holder. Last year Ogata was fourth while Fujita was fifth. Because Aburaya was 14th in 1:03:56 before he finished 5th in Paris, one should not write him off even if he has a mediocre run on Sunday.
Historical background
Some of the very best runners have run in this race. Juma Ikangaa won the race from 1988 to 1990, while Lucketz Swartbooi won in 1993, the year he won silver in the Worlds. Kenji Kimihara, 1968 Olympic marathon silver medallist, won in 1964 and 1967.
The women’s edition started as a 20Km race in 1981 and was changed to a half marathon in 1986. The top women have also run here - Lisa Martin, 1988 Olympic silver medallist, won in 1989, while Lidia Simon, 2001 World champion, won in 1999 and 2001. Naoko Takahashi won in 2000, only two month before her gold medal run in Sydney.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Invited Runners
Men:
Shigeru Aburaya
Koji Shimizu
Kazutoshi Takatsuka
Tsuyoshi Ogata
Atsushi Fujita
Tomoyuki Sato
Noriaki Igarashi
Takeshi Hamano
Kurao Umeki
Shin-ichi Watanabe
Yukinobu Nakazaki
Michitane Noda
Muneyuki Ojima
Yuji Matsuoka
Eric Wainaina (KEN)
John Kanyi (KEN)
Laban Kagika (KEN)
Daniel Njenga (KEN)
Women:
Catherin Ndereba (KEN)
Hiromi Ominami
Yasuko Hashimoto
Miki Oyama
Kiyoko Shimahara
Yuki Saito
Eri Hayakawa
Fumi Murata
Shiho Katayama
