Skip to main content

Tomescu, Mota, Taniguchi and More in Tokyo as Guest Runners




by Brett Larner

Once again this year, the Tokyo Marathon has invited an all-star lineup of major international names current and historic to take part in the event's 10 km and marathon divisions as special guest runners. A listing of this year's scheduled guests:

Marathon
Keizo Yamada - 1953 Boston Marathon winner and 1953 Olympics marathoner
Kenji Kimihara - 1968 Olympics marathon silver medalist and 1966 Boston Marathon winner
Hideki Kita - 1981 Tokyo International Marathon winner and 1980 Olympics track runner
Hiromi Taniguchi - 1991 World Championships marathon gold medalist and 1992 Olympics marathoner
Eriko Asai - 1988 Olympics and 1987 World Championships marathoner
Mari Tanigawa - 1991 Tokyo International Women's Marathon winner

10 km
Constantina Tomescu-Dita (Romania) - 2008 Olympics marathon gold medalist
Rosa Mota (Portugal) - 1988 Olympics marathon gold medalist
Kaori Icho - 2004 and 2008 Olympics freestyle wrestling 63 kg. gold medalist
Chiharu Icho - 2004 and 2008 Olympics freestyle wrestling 48 kg. silver medalist
Tomohiro Matsunaga - 2008 Olympics freestyle wrestling 55 kg. silver medalist
Seiko Yamamoto - 4-time World Championships freestyle wrestling winner
Miyu Yamamoto - 3-time World Championships freestyle wrestling winner
Junichi Miyashita - 2008 Olympics 400 m swim relay bronze medalist

Click here for more detailed information.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

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

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston