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Posted: January 26, 2004 Athletics: Sakamoto Wins Osaka International Ladies Marathon By David Monti (c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved < RaceResultsWeekly.com> Osaka International Ladies Marathon (23rd) - Osaka, JPN; Sunday, January 25 Distance: 42.195 km
NOTE: Results and splits from the organizers (Japanese athletes shown with their corporate team affiliations); race story from KEN NAKAMURA--Ed. On an unusually cold and windy day, Naoko Sakamoto won perhaps the most important marathon of her career. The fourth place finisher from last summer's World Championships marathon broke away from Masako Chiba and Hiromi Ominami between 30 and 35 km to win in a slowish 2:25:29. "If nobody was going to break the race open, then I was planning to go after the 30 kilometer aid station," said Sakamoto after the race. She threw in a 3:04 kilometer and the damage was done. "When I turned around and saw nobody close, I decided to keep on going." She covered that 5-K segment in a blazing 15:48 and romped to victory. This was the pentultimate qualifying race for Japanese women looking to make their nation's Olympic marathon squad, and Sakamoto's victory here virtually guarantees her a team berth. Mizuki Noguchi, who won a silver medal in Paris last August, is the only athlete who has already been selected for the Japanese Olympic team. The cold conditions dictated a slow start: 36:35 through 10-K. Everyone was looking at each other, hoping that someone else would take the lead and push the pace. Because there were no pacemakers in the Tokyo Women's Marathon last November, in order to make every Olympic qualifying race similar as far as pacemakers were concerned, the JAAF decided not to use the official pacemaker in Osaka. Consequently, the large lead group of 21 runners contained all the major contenders and more. Yoko Shibui, Harumi Hiroyama and Kazue Ogoshi were near the front, while Masako Chiba stayed at the back of the pack like she did last year in the same race. Nearing the 10 km check point, Yoko Shibui went to the front and started to push the pace. The pack dwindled when Shibui turned a 3:20 kilometer, leaving 13 runners in contention. Just before the 27 kilometer mark, Chiba made her move. "I had a hunch that I must go now," said the tiny Japanese after the race. Chiba's surge winnowed the pack to just four contenders: Sakamoto, Chiba, Hiromi Ominami and Yoko Shibui. Shibui, who had the fastest marathon and 10,000m time in the field, was the first to be dropped, and by 35 km she was several minutes behind. She would finish ninth. After Sakamoto made her big surge at 30 kilometers, the race for victory was over. "I did not know that I had run that fast," said Sakamoto of her 15:48 5-K. "When the first half of the race was slow, I have given up on recording the fast time. I just wanted to win." In her last two races, Sakamoto slowed and was passed by Chiba near the end of the race. To build extra endurance she did two 40 kilometer runs in a one month stint in New Mexico at altitude. She only did one 40 km run before running in Paris last August. She reportedly ran 1000 kilometers in one month (621 miles). Behind Sakamoto, Chiba passed Ominami in the 36th kilometer to move into the second place. Ominami caught Chiba just before entering the stadium, but Chiba was able to outkick her rival to recapture the second place. Because Sakamoto recorded a faster time than Naoko Takahashi at Tokyo last November (2:27:21), she stands above Takahashi in the eyes of the JAAF selectors for an Olympic team berth. In turn, Takahashi is sitting above Chiba and Ominani because she ran faster than they did. If the top Japanese at Nagoya in March runs faster than Takahashi, the defending Olympic gold medalist, she will probably be bumped from the team. Women -
Splits for Top Finishers (every 5 km):
2. Chiba
3. Ominami
The race website is at: http://www.ktv.co.jp/e/ex_others.html#marathon Join the RRWeekly Yahoo Community at: groups.yahoo.com/group/rrweekly
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