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Japanese Olympic Champion and last year’s winner Mizuki Noguchi committed to real,- BERLIN MARATHON

2006-05-20

Mizuki Noguchi committed to real,- BERLIN MARATHON once again.
© Victah Sailer

The Olympic Marathon Champion Mizuki Noguchi will run the real,- BERLIN MARATHON for the second time in a row. The Japanese officially announced her participation at the biggest and most spectacular German marathon, held on September 24^th. The real,- BERLIN MARATHON is part of the new World Marathon Majors Series (WMM). The organisers of the 33^rd edition of the real,- BERLIN MARATHON already have 30,000 registrations. Only 10,000 bib numbers are left. As soon as the limit of 40,000 registrations is reached nobody can sign-on anymore. 

Olympic Champion 

 „We are happy that we were able to sign the Olympic Champion and last year’s winner for a second time. We can expect another high performance and we’ll hopefully have another winning time of sub 2:20 hours,“ Race director Mark Milde said.

Noguchi's intention in Berlin: sub 2:19

The 27 year-old Mizuki Noguchi won the real,- BERLIN MARATHON in a new Asian record of 2:19:12 hours last year and is since then the third fastest marathon runner of all times. This time is also the current course record in Berlin. One year before Mizuki Noguchi had won the Olympic crown in the heat of Athens. She didn’t only beat world record holder and British favourite Paula Radcliffe but also Catherine Ndereba (Kenya). These are the only two runners who have run a marathon faster than Mizuki Noguchi. At the real,- BERLIN MARATHON Mizuki Noguchi will try to improve her Asian record.

"We're trying to get Mizuki Noguchi a good competition"

„It looks like that the Japanese winning streak in the women’s race, which began in 2000, will continue at the real,- BERLIN MARATHON. But we try to sign high class competitors for Mizuki Noguchi,“ Mark Milde announced. The real,- BERLIN MARATHON will be the only marathon worldwide where the Olympic Champion has been running a marathon since her victory in Athens 2004. In the spring of 2005 and 2006 the Japanese did not run a marathon.

Noguchi wants to get on WMM leaderboard 

At the real,- BERLIN MARATHON Mizuki Noguchi will start her WMM campaign. The best marathon runners in the world are collecting points at this series over a two-year cycle. Besides Berlin the BAA Boston Marathon, the Flora London Marathon, the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon belong to the World Marathon Majors Series. Marathon races at Olympic Games and World Championships will count as well. The best male and female runner will split a jackpot of one million US-Dollar at the end. A maximum of four races will be counted.