TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.
ASICS chairman Kihachiro Onitsuka has passed away
Posted October 2nd, 2007 at 9:30 AM by Mickey Katz
Section: News & Results, Gear & Apparel, Running Shoes
ASICS Corporation chairman Kihachiro Onitsuka died on Saturday September 29 of heart failure in a hospital in Kobe, Japan. He was 89.
Mr. Onitsuka was born on May 29, 1918, in Tottori Prefecture in western Japan. Concerned at the sight of the nation’s youth after World War II, he made it his mission to inspire young people and chose the world of sports as a means to fulfill his goal.
In 1949, he started Onitsuka Co. Ltd., the first sports shoe company in Japan. Using many creative ideas, he released epoch-making products.
In 1977, ASICS Corporation was formed through a merger of Onitsuka Co. Ltd, G.T.O. Co., an equipment manufacturer, and Jelenk Co., a sports apparel manufacturer. Mr. Onitsuka became the president and aimed to diversify the business to be more competitive on the global sporting goods market.
In 1992, he became chairman of ASICS Corporation, a position he held until his death. Today ASICS is the fifth largest sports goods manufacturer, making products not only for Olympic Gold medalists, but also ordinary people who do sports to keep up a healthy lifestyle.
Read the rest of this entry »
English marathoner Jane Tomlinson dies after 7-year battle with cancer
Posted September 4th, 2007 at 3:20 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Jane Tomlinson, who defied terminal cancer for seven years by running marathons, entering triathlons and cycling vast distances while raising large sums for charity, has died, her family said Tuesday. Tomlinson, 43, died Monday night at St. Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds, her home town in central England.
She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990. Ten years later, she was told the disease had spread and was incurable, and that she would die within six months. She continued to work as a nurse and, despite the effects of chemotherapy and other treatment, she pursued a grueling exercise program.
She ran three times in the London marathon and was said to be the first terminal cancer patient to finish the race. She ran once in the New York Marathon and competed in an Ironman triathlon in Florida completing a 180-kilometer (112-mile) bike ride, a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) swim and a full marathon within 17 hours.
Read the rest of this entry »
Track official Herman Mancini passes away at 94
Posted February 28th, 2007 at 9:54 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results
Claire Orlik Potenzano knew how special her grandfather was, but it wasn’t until she started going through his scrapbook photos, newspaper clippings and track and field programs just how much he accomplished in a sport he was so passionate about.
Herman Mancini of Coral Springs, Fla., one of the nation’s most well-respected and liked USA Track and Field officials, died Sunday, Feb. 25 of a stroke. He was 94.
Being around the athletes “keeps me young, and I can see the pleasure in their faces that they really love this sport,” Mancini once said.
Read the rest of this entry »



The Final Sprint
On March 15, 2010
SDrunner said:
Great review, I wrote one on the Ironman Road Trainer HRM, which is similar to this one, without the...