February 26, 2006

JAPANESE REGAIN WORLD 24-HOUR RUN TITLES, U.S. TEAMS 5TH & 6TH

Ryoichi Sekiya and Sumie Inagaki of Japan won the World 24-Hour titles this weekend in Taipei, Taiwan.  Running steadily through day and night in overcast, damp conditions (60 degrees farenheit and humidity over 90%), the two Japanese human metronomes took charge of the race after the first few hours and were never seriously challenged.  They recaptured the gold medals they had won in the 2004 World All Day/All Night race but then had lost by a few places in 2005.  Sekiya led his countrymen to team victory over France and Italy.  Inagaki's 6km victory margin over Lyudmila Kalinina could not overcome the powerhouse of the silver medalist's distaff teammates, as the Russian women prevailed again over the Japanese.  The U.S. Men's and Women's teams placed 5th and 6th, respectively.  John Geesler, for the 3rd time in the 4-year history of the World 24-Hour event, led the American men, placing 23rd overall.  Employing a rare strategy of running together, step for step for the entire race, Sandy Powell and Pam Reed tied for 19th place to lead the American women.

-Dan Brannen
American Ultrarunning Association

TOP 10 MEN
1 RYOICHI SEKIYA JPN 272.936km
2 MAGROUN MOHAMED FRA 248.563km
3 VLADIMIR BYCHKOV RUS 246.098km
4 OSVALDO BELTRAMINO ITA 245.698km
5 MASAYUKI OTAKI JPN 244.572km
6 HOBLEA FABIEN FRA 243.709km
7 KENJI OKIYAMA JPN 238.061km
8 ENRICO BARTOLINI ITA 235.100km
9 KIM KWANGBOK KOR  233.522km
10 ANDREI KAZANTSEV RUS  233.415km

AMERICAN MEN
23 JOHN GEESLER USA 221.859km
25 ALEX SWENSON USA 219.272km
29 ROY PIRRUNG USA 212.969km
38 DANNY RIPKA USA 201.765km
44 SCOTT EPPELMAN USA 189.361km
 

Men's National Teams

1. Japan - 755,569km
238,061.00 59 JPN KENJI OKIYAMA
244,572.00 54 JPN MASAYUKI OTAKI
272,936.00 55 JPN RYOICHI SEKIYA

2. France - 724,412km
232,140.00 23 FRA GUYOMARCH JEAN PIERRE
243,709.00 22 FRA HOBLEA FABIEN
248,563.00 20 FRA MAGROUN MOHAMED

3. Italy - 709,677km
228,879.00 43 ITA GASTONE BARICHELLO
235,100.00 45 ITA ENRICO BARTOLINI
245,698.00 42 ITA OSVALDO BELTRAMINO

4. Russia - 708,359km
228,846.00 76 RUS VLADIMIR TIVIKOV
233,415.00 75 RUS ANDREI KAZANTSEV
246,098.00 74 RUS VLADIMIR BYCHKOV

5. USA - 654,100km
212,969.00 101 USA ROY PIRRUNG
219,272.00 103 USA ALEX SWENSON
221,859.00 99 USA John Geesler
 

TOP 10 WOMEN
1 SUMIE INAGAKI JPN 237.144km
2 LYUDMILA KALININA RUS  231.356km
3 KIMIE NOTO JPN 229.146km
4 GALINA EREMINA RUS  223.208km
5 IRINA REUTOVICH RUS  216.913km
6 KAREN MARIE BROEGGER DEN  213.427km
7 CAROLYNNE TASSIE NZL 212.348km
8 CHIOU SHU JUNG TPE 206.287km
9 JANNEKE CAZEMIER NED 203.625km
10 RIMMA PALTSEVA RUS  202.705km

AMERICAN WOMEN
19 SANDY POWELL USA 191.336km
19 PAM REED USA 191.336km
24 SUE OLSEN USA 181.696km
30 LAURA NELSON USA 156.057km
 

Women's National Teams

1. Russia - 671,477km
216,913.00 78 RUS IRINA REUTOVICH
223,208.00 77 RUS GALINA EREMINA
231,356.00 80 RUS LYUDMILA KALININA

2. Japan - 654,555km
188,265.00 63 JPN HIROKO OKIYAMA
229,146.00 61 JPN KIMIE NOTO
237,144.00 60 JPN SUMIE INAGAKI

3. France - 596,172km
196,298.00 26 FRA BEC BRIGITTE
197,285.00 27 FRA JEHANNO VERONIQUE
202,589.00 28 FRA FIRMIN NATHALIE

4. Taiwan - 585,415km
182,165.00 97 TPE LIN MONG CHI
196,963.00 98 TPE CHU MEI JUNG
206,287.00 95 TPE CHIOU SHU JUNG

5. Italy - 571,598km
169,354.00 53 ITA CARMELA DI DOMENICO
200,315.00 51 ITA MONIKA MOLING
201,929.00 50 ITA LORENA DI VITO

6. USA - 564,368km
181,696.00 108 USA SUE OLSEN
191,336.00 106 USA SANDY POWELL
191,336.00 107 USA PAM REED

This year's National 24-Hour Run Team was sponsored by Recover-Ease, a  new endurance athlete recovery supplement (www.recover-ease.com).


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