Skip to main content

Wanjiru Withdraws From Sapporo Half Marathon

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090701/oth0907012032021-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics men's marathon gold medalist and half marathon world record holder Samuel Wanjiru (Team Savas) of Kenya has withdrawn from the July 5 Sapporo International Half Marathon, the race's office announced on July 1. Wanjiru, who won April's London Marathon, was to be Sapporo's feature invited athlete but recently told race officials that he is dealing with the affects of accumulated fatigue and cannot race.

Comments

Brett Larner said…
I knew the Wanjiru-Mogusu matchup was too good to be true....
Simon Phillips said…
Disappointing news. Brett, any predictions for the match-up between Mogusu and Sato? What are Fujiwara's chances in this race?

Very much looking forward to the women's race as well.
Brett Larner said…
Well, ordinarily I would say Sato has no chance against Mogusu. He's the Japanese record holder but his best time is still 45 sec or so slower than Mogusu's. This time, though, Mogusu is coming off the car accident in Feb., so it's unclear what kind of shape he's going to be in. Mogusu may be vulnerable but Sato is in marathon training mode and from what he's said in interviews he's focusing on the WC, not the tuneup races he's doing. I guess I don't really see him challenging for the win unless Mogusu is way off.

Fujiwara doesn't have the kind of half time you'd expect from his full marathon, so he would need to have a great day to be up front. I think Yu Mitsuya could be more of a factor if he's uninjured. One thing about Sapporo, though, is that the names which have been announced are only the invited elites. There will be scores of other jitsugyodan runners there, probably including some of the Africans, so some of them might be up there as well.

Agreed that the women's race should be good. Is Shibui back in one piece? We'll see. Curious also to see what Natsuko Goto can do against all the pros.
Brett Larner said…
I forgot to mention Daniel Gitau. So far he's never really been close to Mogusu over this kind of distance, but will all the middle distance track races he did this spring and the quadruple win (800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m) at the Kanto Championships in May he's faster than ever and could be the man.

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el