Skip to main content

Naoko Takahashi Wins Three Races in U.S.A.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20081004-415569.html

translated by Brett Larner

Naoko Takahashi (36, Team Phiten), training at high altitude in Boulder, Colorado since May, won three races in the U.S.A. during the summer and early fall including the Mt. Evans mountain race and the Boulder Marathon. At her last race in Japan, March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon, Takahashi suffered problems with her right knee and finished 27th. Her success in the American races represents a big step up in her planned competition in this season's big three marathons, the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya International Women's marathons.

Arriving in Boulder on May 31, Takahashi ran the Mt. Evans mountain race on June 21. The race begins at Echo Lake at an elevation of 3231 m, climbing 1117 m over the course of 23.3 km to peak at 4348 m, making it the highest-elevation race in the U.S. The goal point at the mountain's peak is higher than the clouds, and higher than the 3776 m Mt. Fuji. Takahashi was 12th overall, winning the women's race. Her time of 2:06:22 broke the 18-year old course record by one minute.

On Sept. 21 Takahashi ran the Boulder Marathon as a comfortable training run over the race's challenging, hilly course which peaks at elevation 1800 m. Takahashi was 9th overall, again the women's winner and beating the 2nd place finisher by ten minutes. Besides these two races Takahashi also won a half marathon, making for three victories in three races during her training period.

Takahashi ran March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon in a bid for the Beijing Olympic team but finished 27th. In August last year she had surgery on her right knee, meaning that the Olympic selection race was an unrehearsed single chance situation. This time she wants to come to the selection races having honed her racing. Speaking from America, Takahashi commented, "There are a lot of races nearby [our training camp], so I can get some practice competing while I train."

If Takahashi wins the Nov. 16 Tokyo International Women's Marathon, she will be selected for the 2009 World Track and Field Championships. Takahashi also plans to try for the team at the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon and the Mar. 8 Nagoya International Women's Marathon. Three races in four months will require incredible stamina, so Takahashi will be in full training until the first race. She plans to return to Japan in early Nov. and will carry our her final preparations in Tokyo.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters