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Japanese elite runners enter Vienna City Marathon for first time
Elite runners from Japan have entered the Vienna City Marathon for the
first time in the history of the race. When the 23rd edition of Austria’s
biggest running event will be started on 7th May 2006 Chieko Yamasaki and
Tomo Morimoto will be among the big favourites for the women’s title.
"Having two elite athletes from Japan running here means that we will be
able to increase the international significance of our event," race
director Wolfgang Konrad said and added: "Additionally we are looking
forward to a thrilling women’s race." About 20,000 runners are expected to
take part in the Vienna City Marathon on 7th May.
Both runners feature promising personal best times of sub 2:28. Chieko
Yamasaki has clocked 2:27:22 with which she finished sixth in the high
calibre Nagoya Marathon 2005. So far the 27 year-old has a half marathon
best time of 71:30 minutes. But 22 year-old Tomo Morimoto could be even
more promising. It was in January’s Osaka Marathon where she ran her debut
at the distance and achieved a breakthrough into Japanese top class. Tomo
Morimoto finished fifth in this race with 2:27:46. Her performance was
rated so high by officials that she received the ,New Face Award’. Tomo
Morimoto’s personal best at the half marathon stands at 72:17. But she had
run that time back in 2004 when she was just 20.
In Japan elite runners are normally organised in companies. Chieko Yamasaki
and Tomo Morimoto both belong to the Tenmaya team. Tenmaya is a department
store in Japan, which even has a connection to Vienna: Tenmaya runs a
Japanese restaurant in Austria’s capital. But their running team is even
more successful internationally. One of the team members is Naoko Sakamoto
who placed seventh in the Olympic marathon in 2004. Actually she had been
in Vienna for her final preparations for Athens in August 2004. Now her
training partners come to Vienna for racing. That could well mean that the
Vienna City Marathon will see the best quality women’s race for years.
However past women’s races in Vienna have been of high quality as well. The
course record stands at 2:23:47 set by Italy’s Maura Viceconte in 2000.
Among others Chieko Yamasaki and Tomo Morimoto will face Susanne Pumper on
7th May. The 35 year-old Austrian will run her debut at the Vienna City
Marathon. Last year she had won the half marathon, which is staged parallel
to the Vienna City Marathon, in a national record of 73:20. Pumper had been
third in the European Indoors in 2005 at 3,000 m.
Online registration for the 23rd Vienna City Marathon on 7th May 2006 is
available at: www.vienna-marathon.com
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