One of the world's most prestigious marathons, the Tokyo International Women's Marathon, will be discontinued after its 30th edition next Novemeber, organizers announced yesterday.
"Yes, Asahi Shimbun, one of the organizers of Tokyo International Women's Marathon, announced on Dec. 17, that 30th edition... to be held on Nov. 16, 2008, will be the last edition of this marathon," wrote Wataru Ogushi, the elite athlete coordinator, in an e-mail message to the Race Results Weekly office.
Along with the all-women's marathons in Osaka and Nagoya, Tokyo has reliably served as a selection race for Japanese World Championship and Olympic teams, and has showcased some of history's greatest women runners. The race's list of winners reads like a who's-who of women's marathon running, including many Olympic medalists like Katrin Dörre (three wins), Rosa Mota, Valentina Yegorova (two wins), Derartu Tulu, Joyce Chepchumba, Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi. Noguchi won the 2007 edition last November in a course record 2:21:37, qualifying for the Beijing Olympics (see photo).
Speculation that the race was being discontinued so that it could be combined with the Tokyo International Marathon, which is held in February and has an elite men's field plus a mass entry of 30,000 runners, turned out to be false.
"It is NOT true that Tokyo Marathon (with mass runners) will also hold the elite women's race with men's elite that they have already done," Ogushi wrote.
Asahi Shimbun, a large newspaper, would still like to see an all-women's marathon under their sponsorship, Ogushi said. "Asahi Shimbun [will] try to make NEW Women's only Marathon in Japan after 2009," he wrote.
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