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.

Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

TFS News Briefs: 2/15/2008

Posted February 15th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Track & Field, Olympics, TFS News Briefs, Masters

Tyson Invitational Has High Profile Athletes
The Tyson Invitational meet will be held this weekend at the University of Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Indoor Track in Fayettville. Some huge names will be competing, including Sanya Richards, Wallace Spearmon, Jenn Stuczynski and the shot put and an all-star shot put shootout that will feature Adam Nelson, Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell and Dan Taylor.
Read more at: [Google News][Tyson Invitational Start List]

Lagat To Run 10000m in London?
Bernard Lagat has hinted that he may move up in distance for the 2012 London Olympics, saying that, “athletes like Haile Gebrselassie [have shown] how possible it is to be stronger as you get older.” Lagat will compete in the 3000m event this weekend at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham, England.
Read more at: [BirminghamMail.net, UK]

IAAF Tokyo Marathon Preview
The Tokyo Marathon will be held this Sunday, February 18th and it will be doubling as Japan’s Olympic Men’s marathon Trials. A slew of speedy foreign runners has been invited, including Daniel Njenga of Kenya, a 2:06 marathoner. Historically, Japan has been strong in the marathon at the international level, so – with its mix of domestic and foreign talent – this should prove to be a high-octane race.
Read more at: [IAAF][Tokyo Marathon Website]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Tokyo Marathon Examines Adding Elite Women’s Field in 2009

Posted February 10th, 2008 at 3:45 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons

translated by Brett Larner.

The official meeting of the Tokyo Marathon organizing committee opened Jan. 28 at the Tokyo metropolitan government’s office complex. At the top of the agenda was ratification of the Mar. 22 date for next year’s race. Another major topic of discussion was the addition of an elite women’s race to the existing elite men’s component of the event.

Because next year will see a World Championships (Berlin), The Tokyo Marathon committee, “…would like to see [top] men and women together in the same race.” Rikuren [JAAF] said it will consider all points of view in making its decision on approving the plan.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Oita and Tokyo Marathons Announce Elite Fields

Posted January 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Next month’s Beppu-Oita Mainichi and Tokyo International Marathons have released their elite fields. Included in the elite fields set to compete at the Tokyo Marathon is reigning champion Daniel Njenga of Kenya [Pictured]. Although Njenga is a native Kenya, he lives and trains in Japan for most of the year.

BEPPU-OITA (03-Feb):

Invited International:
Elijah Mutai (KEN) 2:09:27 PB (2005 Chunchon)
Mark Yatich (KEN) 2:09:52 (2003 Los Angeles)
Ruggero Pertile (ITA) 2:10:12 (2004 Roma)
Rachid Kisri (MAR) 2:10:36 (2006 Treviso)
Scott Wescott (AUS) 2:11:36 (2005 Beppu-Oita)
Asheber Girma (ETH) 2:16:39 (2007 Addis Ababa)
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Njenga wins Tokyo Marathon

Posted February 18th, 2007 at 10:12 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The man who was reduced to tears when he narrowly finished second at last October’s LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Daniel Njenga of Kenya, easily won today’s Tokyo International Marathon, leading a field of 25,000 in the first mass edition of this race.

Njenga, 30, who runs for the Japanese corporate team, Yakult, pulled away from the field off of a slow pace around 25 km into the race, winning by more than a minute and one-half over Tomoyuki Sato of Japan. Njenga clocked 2:09:45 on a new point-to-point course to Sato’s 2:11:22. Sammy Korir, the second-fastest marathoner of all-time, faded from contention after 15 km and did not finish in the top-10.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

Big marathon debuts in Tokyo on Sunday

Posted February 16th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Some of the world’s oldest and most important marathons are held in Japan, like the Fukuoka Marathon which was held for the 60th time last September and featured a blazing run by Haile Gebrselassie.

But that race had a only 303 finishers, and is emblematic of the elitist status which marathons occupy in Japan. In fact, there are no large mass marathons in Japan. The largest, known to Race Results Weekly, is the Tsukuba Marathon which had 9708 finishers last year, roughly one fourth the total finishers of the ING New York City Marathon, the world’s largest with 37,866 in 2006. The largest marathon in the world in terms of Japanese participants is not in Japan, but rather in the United States. The Honolulu Marathon had 17,905 entrants from Japan in 2006 out of a total of 28,635.

But all of that will change on Sunday as the Tokyo Marathon for 2007 will, for the first time, permit recreational runners to enter.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink