FEMALE

Margaret Okayo
Kenya

154cm44kg
Age: 26

The 13th Sendai Half Marathon Result:
Female: 9th place
Time: 1:15:46

She is not well known in Japan but enjoys an established reputation as an able runner who consistently achieves favorable results. In the last five years, she has been crowned winner in five out of seven races with the others being one-time second place finish and one-time third place finish.
Being one of the top runners who will lead women’s marathon, she is expected to join the 2003 World Championship in Paris as well as Athens Olympics as a national team member of Kenya.

At the Sendai Half Marathon, which was her first race in Japan, she finished 9th. This performance probably resulted from Sendai’s cold weather as well as her tight schedule before arriving in Japan. It was a favorable condition for local runners but seemingly not for Okayo who visited Japan for the first time. Cheered by a lot of people along the street, however, she ran through the race and still placed within the top ten. She is expected to be a strong contender for future races.

Personal Best
	Full Marathon 2:20:43 (#4 marathoner in the world)
	Half Marathon 1:08:49
	5000m 15:30
Major Achievements
	1999	Finished 2nd in the Chicago Marathon
	2000	Crowned winner in the San Diego Marathon
		Finished 3rd in the New York City Marathon
	2001	Crowned winner in the San Diego Marathon
		Crowned winner in the New York City Marathon
	2002	Crowned winner in the Boston Marathon
		Finished 3rd in the Lisbon Half Marathon
		Crowned winner in the Milan City Marathon

MALE

Iwasa Toshihiro
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

172cm 57kg
Age:　26

The 13th Sendai Half Marathon Result:
Male: 4th place
Time: 1:04:24

FEMALE

Esther Wanjiru Maina
Shiseido

162cm 44kg
Age:　25

The 13th Sendai Half Marathon Result:
Female: 5th place
Time:1:13:57

She is a well-known runner for the Sendai Half Marathon who has participated in the race every year from 1997 to 2001. She was crowned winner with the meet-record in the 1998, and won the race the next year, as well.

In 1999, she ran the Tokyo Half Marathon in 1:06:49. This resulted in becoming tenth best in the world. In the 2000 Osaka International Ladies Marathon, she finished 3rd at 2:23:31. In the same year, she participated in the marathon race at the Sydney Olympics as a national member of Kenya and finished 4th at 2:26:17.

In 2001, she moved from Hitachi to Shiseido. Refreshed , she won the 10,000m race in 32:46.65 at the 2002 East Japan Businessmen Athletics, followed by two second place finishes in the 30 km race at 1:46:58 in the Ome Marathon and at 1:10:14 in the Kyoto City Half Marathon, the latter of which was won by Catherine Ndereba. She is continuously making an effort to improve herself.

This year, she came back to the Sendai Half Marathon and excited us with her dynamic running again. She finished 5th in 1 hour and 13 min. The result was somewhat disappointing considering her potential. However, the cheers on the sidelines reflected of her popularity.

FEMALE

Yuka Hashimoto
Tenmaya

156cm 39kg
Age:　21

The 13th Sendai Half Marathon Result:
Female: 8th place
Time:1:15:29

She participated in the 5,000m race in the 2002 Miyagi Businessmen VS Students Championship and became the runner-up at 15:58.64. Then, she finished 25th at 33:06.11 in the All Japan Businessmen Athletics. In the same year, she participated in the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon as an ordinary runner and ran her first marathon.　She kept herself in the second group, which was 1 min. behind the top group, but gradually she got ahead of other runners and surprisingly finished 5th at 2:30:51. Among the Japanese participants, she was a runner-up to Rie Matsuoka, one of her colleagues.

With regard to the half marathon, she got ahead of E.Meyer who had won the event straight from 2000 to 2002, in the 2003 Sapporo International Half Marathon, and finished 9th at 1:11:40.

In the Sendai Half, she ran aggressively but gradually lost her speed, finishing 8th. She is a promising young runner that we can look forward to watching in the future.

162cm 49kg
Age:　23

The 13th Sendai Half Marathon Result: DNF

In the same year, she participated in Ekiden Road Rally for the first time in the All Japan Businessmen- Women's Ekiden. She ran 10.0km of the third section. Although it was very competitive section where the best runner of each team was selected to run, she lead the group for a while leaving top athletes like Yoko Shibui (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance), Rie Matsuoka (Tenmaya), and Takami Oominami (UFJ) behind. She disappointedly finished 6th at 32:35 in this section but her aggressive running should be respected.

This is her first time running in the Sendai Half Marathon.

Omori Yuko
SII
2002 Sendai Half Marathon/9th 1:13:50
2002 East Japan Businessmen Athletics, 10000m/17th 33:58:62
2002 Sapporo International Half Marathon/25th 1:13:23
2002 Kounosu Nighter Athletics, 5000m/6th 16:09:14