japan running news

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY200812060097.html translated by Brett Larner The 2008 Fukuoka International Marathon elite field: l-to-r Kobayashi, Sato, Irifune, Matsumiya, Fujiwara, Aburaya, Limo, Kebede, and Martinez The organizers of the 62nd Fukuoka International Marathon, to be held Dec. 7 with sponsorship from Rikuren, the Asahi Newspaper Group, TV Asahi and the Kyushu Asahi Hoso Corporation, staged a press conference at a Fukuoka hotel on Dec. 5 to introduce this year's elite field to the media. As a selection race for the Japanese national team at next year's World Track and Field Championships in Berlin, this year's Fukuoka features an array of top Japanese marathon men battling for a position on the team. The fastest man in the field, Kenya's Felix Limo was very positive about his race tomorrow, saying, "I've been struggling with injuries for the last two years but am now completely recovered and am back in the kind of shape I was when I was runni...

by Brett Larner The Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship is the most important of Japan's elite men's marathons. At its peak Fukuoka served as the unofficial marathon world championships, the place where all the world's best came to end the year with a battle royale, hence the event's full name. Fukuoka's international stature faded in the era of the big city, big money marathon, but its importance to Japan's elite men has never diminished. As the first chance for Japanese men to qualify for an Olympic or World Championships team it remains a highly competitive domestic event with national record-level performances. In recent years Fukuoka's organizers seem to have made a concerted effort to return the event to a level of international signifcance; the invited overseas field at the 2006 Fukuoka included future world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and two-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist-to-be Jaouad Gharib (Morocco), w...