Skip to main content

Mizuki Noguchi and Two Others Withdraw From Osaka International Women's Marathon

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/sports/athletic/headlines/article/20130125-00000028-dal

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Jan. 27 Osaka International Women's Marathon announced on Jan. 25 that three members of its domestic elite field, Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) and national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) have all withdrawn from Sunday's race, Nakamura with plantar fasciitis in her right foot and Ogi with a stress fracture of one of her toes.  Noguchi has withdrawn due to lingering effects of the sudden stomach illness that kept her out of the National Women's Ekiden two weeks ago.

In a statement via the race organizers Noguchi said, "I've been training for the Osaka International Women's Marathon since November, but just a little while ago I suffered some bad stomach problems.  It has taken some time to recover from them and in my current circumstances I know that I wouldn't be able to do the kind of running I would need to achieve my goal for this race, so I have made the decision to withdraw.  Since I had to pull out last year as well I really focused on running the Osaka International Women's Marathon this year, so it's very disappointing to have to do it again.  But I know that I have a debt of gratitude to all the people who have continued to support me and cheer for me through the good times and the bad times and I want to get my body strong as soon as possible and ready to give the kind of run that will let everyone say that I've made a complete and total comeback!"

Comments

Samurai Running said…
I was looking forward to cheering Noguchi on! Tough game at the top I imagine. Feel for her having to pull out 2 years in a row.

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