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Fujiwara and Nojiri Win First Running of Toyama Marathon

http://www.tulip-tv.co.jp/news/detail/?TID_DT03=20151101165718
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASHC154GFHC1PUZB008.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

14,000 runners took part in the 2015 Toyama Marathon on Sunday, making it the largest full marathon race in the prefecture of Toyama.  The Toyama Marathon was launched to celebrate the opening of the new Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line linking Toyama with the rest of the country.  A total of 14,000 people from around the nation came together to run in the full marathon and shorter distances.  Runners in the full marathon division ran across the historic Shinminato Bridge and through the traditional townscapes of Yamachosuji in Takaoka on the way to the finish line in Toiwa Kansui Park.  Of the 12,000 starters in the full marathon, 10,483 people finished.  First to make it there was local London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House), winning the marathon in 2:17:05.  Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsu Lease) won the women's race in 2:46:39.

Translator's note: This was Fujiwara's second-straight marathon win, having won August's Hokkaido Marathon in 2:16:49.  His only other marathon win to date was at the 2010 Ottawa Marathon in Canada where he set a course record of 2:09:34.

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