Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 3/16/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
                              Contact: Andreas Meier (Press Officer)
                                       +43 – 650 350 1488 
                                       

           
   Japanese elite runners enter Vienna City Marathon for first time


Elite runners from Japan have entered the Vienna City Marathon for the 
first time in the history of the race. When the 23rd edition of Austria’s 
biggest running event will be started on 7th May 2006 Chieko Yamasaki and 
Tomo Morimoto will be among the big favourites for the women’s title. 
"Having two elite athletes from Japan running here means that we will be 
able to increase the international significance of our event," race 
director Wolfgang Konrad said and added: "Additionally we are looking 
forward to a thrilling women’s race." About 20,000 runners are expected to 
take part in the Vienna City Marathon on 7th May.

Both runners feature promising personal best times of sub 2:28. Chieko 
Yamasaki has clocked 2:27:22 with which she finished sixth in the high 
calibre Nagoya Marathon 2005. So far the 27 year-old has a half marathon 
best time of 71:30 minutes. But 22 year-old Tomo Morimoto could be even 
more promising. It was in January’s Osaka Marathon where she ran her debut 
at the distance and achieved a breakthrough into Japanese top class. Tomo 
Morimoto finished fifth in this race with 2:27:46. Her performance was 
rated so high by officials that she received the ,New Face Award’. Tomo 
Morimoto’s personal best at the half marathon stands at 72:17. But she had 
run that time back in 2004 when she was just 20.

In Japan elite runners are normally organised in companies. Chieko Yamasaki 
and Tomo Morimoto both belong to the Tenmaya team. Tenmaya is a department 
store in Japan, which even has a connection to Vienna: Tenmaya runs a 
Japanese restaurant in Austria’s capital. But their running team is even 
more successful internationally. One of the team members is Naoko Sakamoto 
who placed seventh in the Olympic marathon in 2004. Actually she had been 
in Vienna for her final preparations for Athens in August 2004. Now her 
training partners come to Vienna for racing. That could well mean that the 
Vienna City Marathon will see the best quality women’s race for years. 
However past women’s races in Vienna have been of high quality as well. The 
course record stands at 2:23:47 set by Italy’s Maura Viceconte in 2000.

Among others Chieko Yamasaki and Tomo Morimoto will face Susanne Pumper on 
7th May. The 35 year-old Austrian will run her debut at the Vienna City 
Marathon. Last year she had won the half marathon, which is staged parallel 
to the Vienna City Marathon, in a national record of 73:20. Pumper had been 
third in the European Indoors in 2005 at 3,000 m.

Online registration for the 23rd Vienna City Marathon on 7th May 2006 is 
available at: www.vienna-marathon.com 



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