Japanese Dominate Spartathlon

 
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Sparta, Greece, September 26. Japanese runners captured the wins at the 27th annual Spartathlon, a 245.3-km (152.4-mile) race from Athens to Sparta. Ryoichi Sekiya, the defending world 24-hour champion, won the race in 23:48:24 and Sumie Inagaki was the women's winner in 27:39:49. Inagaki, who also won here in 2006, set a new women's course record. The route retraces that taken 2500 years ago by legendary messenger Pheidippides.

Lisa Bliss of Spokane, Washington was the sole American finisher with a strong 32:23:26, good for third place among the women and 44th overall.

Of the 320 runners that started, only 132 finished within the 36-hour time limit.

Men
1. Ryoichi Sekiya, 41, JPN, 23:48:24
2. Lars Christoffersen, 37, DAN, 24:31:45
3. Jon Berge, 40, NOR, 25:09:38
4. Takehiro Matsushita, 30, JPN, 25:43:21
5. Jan-Albert Lantink, 41, HOL, 26:06:49

Women
1. Sumie Inagaki, 43, JPN, 27:39:49 (course record, old record 28:10:48 by Irina Reutovich, Russia, 2002)
2. Yoshiko Matsuda, 55, JPN, 31:16:12
3. Lisa Bliss, 41, Spokane, WA, 32:23:26
4. Michiyo Okada, 35, JPN, 32:57:05
5. Marika Heinlein, 47, DEU, 33:30:21