Runner's & Triathlete's Web  (RRW) Athletics: Retirement Looms For Takaoka <title> <META http-equiv="PICS-Label" content='(PICS-1.1 "http://www.icra.org/ratingsv02.html" l gen true for "http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html" r (ca 1 lz 1 nz 1 oz 1 vz 1) "http://www.rsac.org/ratingsv01.html" l gen true for "http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0))'> <META Name="description" Content="Runners Web and Triathlete's Web- Running & Triathlon. The Runner's Web (RunnersWeb.com) is an Ottawa, Ontario based running and triathlon resource site..."> <META Name="keywords" Content=" (RRW) Athletics: Retirement Looms For Takaoka, Running, Triathlon, Athletics, Track & Field, Run, Canada, Canadian Road Racing, Road Races, Track & Field, Running & Jogging, OAC Racing Team, Sharon Donnelly-Triathlete, Canadian Champion, Pan American Games champion, 2000 Olympics, Ottawa Athletic Club, Runner's Trivia, Triathlons, Triathletes, Marathon, Cycling, Cycle Races, Biking, Bicycling, Cycle Road Races, Free eMail, Chat Rooms, Calculator 'Widgets', Free Classifieds, Forums, Physiotherapy Column, Sports Medicine, Cyberstores, Top 25 Ranked Sites, Voting Booth, InterActive Road Race Director's Calendars, First Person Column, Runner's Web Digest - a weekly email list, Software, race entry information and results, and morefrom Ottawa, Ontario Canada"> <META NAME="Highlight" content="Runner's Web and Triathlete's Web Version 2.0, The Runner's Web, Running, Run, Runners, OAC Racing Team, Sharon Donnelly, Triathlete, Ottawa Athletic Club,Road Racing, Track and Field, Runner's Trivia, Triathlons, Triathletes, Marathon, Cycling, Cycle Races, Biking, Bicycling, Cycle Road Races.."> <META NAME="Classification" content="Runner's Web Version 2.0, Triathlete's Web, The Runner's Web, Running, Run, Runners, OAC Racing Team, Sharon Donnelly, Triathlete, Ottawa Athletic Club,Road Racing, Track and Field, Runner's Trivia, Triathlons, Triathletes, Marathon, Cycling, Cycle Races, Biking, Bicycling, Cycle Road Races..."> <META NAME="revised" content="March 17, 2009"> <META NAME="revisit-after" content="1 days"> <META NAME="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="robots" content="ALL"> <meta name="distribution" content="Global"> <meta name="classification" content="Running, Track and Field and Triathlon"> <meta http-equiv="bulletin-text" content="The Runner's Web is a complete running and triathlon resource site."> <meta name="rating" content="Safe For Kids"> <meta name="copyright" content="Runner's Web."> <meta name="language" content="English"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Cache-Control" CONTENT="no cache"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no cache"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" CONTENT="0"> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <LINK REL=StyleSheet HREF="/running/style/style.css" TYPE="text/css" TITLE="8-bit Color Style" MEDIA="screen, print"> </HEAD> <BODY class="ScrollBars" bgcolor="#FFCC33" text="#000000" vlink="#000000" link="#000000"> <A NAME="top"></A> <center><A HREF="http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html" target="_top"><img src="runnerswebcom20.jpg" alt="Runner's Web" height="25" width="176" BORDER="0"></A><BR> <font size=+1><B>Runner's and Triathlete's Web News</B></font> <TABLE WIDTH="80%" align=center> <TR><TD VALIGN=TOP align=center> <IMG SRC="/running/sendmail.gif" HEIGHT="11" WIDTH="15" ALT="Send To A friend" BORDER="0"> <font size=-1>Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon? </font> <BR><font size=-1>Send this</font> <A HREF="Javascript: refer_url();"><font size=-1>Runner's Web Story's URL</font></A> <font size=-1> to a friend.</font> <A HREF="http://excoboard.com/exco/index.php?boardid=4655" target="_news">Comment on this story</A>. <BR><font size=-1>Visit the </font><A HREF="/running.html" target="_top"><font size=-1>FrontPage</font></A><font size=-1> for the latest news. | </font> <a href="#" target="_top"><font size=-1>View in Runner's Web Frame</font></A> </TD></TR> </TABLE> </center> <TABLE ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP width=90%> <TR><TD align=center colspan=2> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <HR color="#000000" noshade > </TD></TR> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script>  <P align=left> <TABLE> <TR><TD VALIGN=TOP> <font color="#000000"><b>Posted: March 17, 2009</b></font> : </TD><TD VALIGN=TOP> <script type="text/javascript"> yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = " (RRW) Athletics: Retirement Looms For Takaoka. "; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "(RRW) Athletics: Retirement Looms For Takaoka. "; yahooBuzzArticleCategory = "Athletics."; yahooBuzzArticleType = "text"; yahooBuzzArticleId = window.location.href; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://d.yimg.com/ds/badge2.js" badgetype="small"> </script> </TD><TD VALIGN=TOP> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/?tabs=web%2Cpost%2Cemail&charset=utf-8&style=default&publisher=7989a304-e01f-48c8-8da8-9aeeba218080&inactivebg=%23ffcc33&inactivefg=%23ccccccc&linkfg=%23000000&popup=true&embeds=true"></script> </TD></TR> </TABLE> <P><strong>(RRW) Athletics: Retirement Looms For Takaoka </strong> <P> <P ALIGN=LEFT><iframe scrolling=no frameborder="0" src="rw_active_athlete_120X600.html" width="125" height="600" align="left"></iframe> <TABLE> <TR><TD HEIGHT="600" VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT> <P><TABLE ALIGN=RIGHT> <TR><TD> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </TD></TR> </TABLE>  <P>From David Monti <P>© 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved <A HREF="http://www.raceresultsweekly.com" target="_news">RaceResultsWeekly.com</A> <div class="KonaBody">  <P>By David Monti with Ken Nakamura <P>Toshinari Takaoka, the Asian record holder for the marathon and Japan's top male distance runner for the last decade, has decided to retire after Sunday's Tokyo Marathon. Takaoka is 38 years-old and spent his career running for the Kanebo corporate team. <P>"I could no longer do the training or run the marathon that I envision as ideal," explained Takaoka. "During my over-distance training on February 4, I injuired my left calf. Since I felt that I could no longer able to do the ideal marathon training, I decided to make the Tokyo Marathon the last marathon of my career." <P>In addition to his excellent 2:06:16 marathon personal best, Takaoka also holds the Japanese records for 3000m (7:41.87) and 10,000m (27:35.09). He twice won the Japanese All Corporate Half-Marathon Championships title in 1997 and 2003, but his biggest victory was at the Tokyo Marathon in 2005 (he was also second in 2006). He competed in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games on the track, and finished seventh in the 10,000m in 2000. His best performance in a championship marathon was fourth place in the 2005 IAAF World Championships. He never ran an Olympic Marathon, although he had hoped to in 2012. <P>"I set my goal with the four-year cycle," Takaoka continued. "Realistically speaking, I cannot stay focused for the 2012 London Olympics, and that is the major reason triggering my decision." <P>Beginning on April 1, Takaoka will become a coach at Kanebo.  </div>  <HR color="#000000" noshade > <P> <A HREF="/running/rw_getRSS.html" target="main"><IMG SRC="/running/images/rss_feed.gif" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="80" BORDER="0"></A> <P><A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RunnersWeb/join" target="_news"><b>Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest</b></A> </TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2> </TD></TR> </TABLE> <CENTER>Check out our <A HREF="/running/rw_intro.html">FrontPage</A> for all the latest running and triathlon news.</CENTER> <HR color="#000000" noshade > <CENTER><A HREF="#top">Top of News</A> <BR><A HREF="http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html" target="_top">Runner's Web FrontPage</A></CENTER> <CENTER> <P> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <P> <CENTER><iframe scrolling=no frameborder="0" src="rw_active_athlete_728X90.html" width="728" height="90" align="center"></iframe></CENTER>  <center> <B>© 1996 - 2009 RunnersWeb.com - All rights reserved.</B> <FORM style="margin-bottom:0;" method=GET action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_news"> <TABLE bgcolor=#000000 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=1 style="margin-bottom:0;"> <tr valign=top> <td> <font color="#FFCC33"><B> Google Search for: </B></font> <INPUT TYPE=text name=<P>Q: size=31 maxlength=255 value="" style="font-size:8pt; background-color: #FFCC33; color: #000000"> <INPUT type=hidden name=cof VALUE="GALT:gray;S:http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html;GL:2;VLC:FF0000;AH:left;BGC:FFCC33;LH:25;LC:000000;GFNT:gray;L:http://www.runnersweb.com/running/runnerswebcom20.jpg;ALC:000000;LW:176;T:FFFFFF;GIMP:black;AWFID:f972d587ecfeb936;"> <input type=hidden name=domains value="RunnersWeb.com"> <font color="#FFCC33"><B>in</B></font> <input type=radio name=sitesearch value=""><font color=#FFCC33"><B><font size=-1>Web</font></B></font> <input type=radio name=sitesearch value="RunnersWeb.com" checked><font color=#FFCC33"><B><font size=-1>Site</font></B></font> <INPUT STYLE="font-size:8pt; font-weight:bold; color:#FFCC33; background-color:black" type=submit name=sa VALUE=" Go "> <A HREF="RunnersWeb_External_Links.html?http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en" target="_news"><font color="#FFCC33"><B>Translate</font></B></A> </td></tr></TABLE> <input type=hidden name=client value='pub-7139008609991931'> <input type=hidden name=forid value='1'> <input type=hidden name=ie value='ISO-8859-1'> <input type=hidden name=oe value='ISO-8859-1'> <input type=hidden name=cof value='GALT:#000000;GL:1;DIV:#000000;VLC:000000;AH:center;BGC:FFCC33;LBGC:000000;ALC:000000;LC:000000;T:000000;GFNT:CC0000;GIMP:CC0000;LH:50;LW:428;L:http://www.runnersweb.com/running/runnerswebcom_428X50.jpg;S:http://www.runnersweb.com;FORID:1;'> <input type=hidden name=hl value='en'> </FORM> </center>  </CENTER>  <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-220123-1"; urchinTracker(); </script>   <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> var dc_UnitID = 14; var dc_PublisherID = 6921; var dc_AdLinkColor = 'gray'; var dc_adprod='ADL'; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" SRC="http://kona.kontera.com/javascript/lib/KonaLibInline.js"></SCRIPT>  </BODY> </HTML>