January 5, 2010

Training yet again in Boulder’s winter climate for  the Osaka International Ladies Marathon, Lidia Simon is aiming to mark her tenth running of the event in strong fashion. A three-time winner in Osaka, Lidia has only once failed to make the Top 8 awards ceremony at Osaka, a 2006 injury-hampered 9^th-place finish the only mar on an otherwise perfect record.  “My training has been very good so far, and I have been doing more hills than usual. The last few years, the Japanese have gotten away from me just after we come out from the hills of Osaka Castle, so I know this will be the key point again.”

To mark Lidia’s tenth running of the event, the race organizers are planning special ceremonies for her during race week and also at the post-race awards ceremony, with Romania’s Ambassador to Japan among those invited.

Long-time Boulder Wave athlete Kayoko Obata of Japan will also be running her 10^th Osaka, but unlike Lidia, Kayoko will be using Osaka as her “Last Run,” retiring from competition after this year’s race.

Kansai TV has had a film crew in Boulder the past two days to do a bit of “up close and personal” on Lidia to use for this year’s pre-race show and race broadcast. The crew spent most of Sunday at Lidia’s north Boulder home filming her with her husband/coach, Liviu, and her son, Cristy, as they prepared dinner, helped Cristy with his homework, and enjoyed a quiet evening at home. On Monday, the crew followed her on a hill workout done on the dirt roads just north of the Boulder Reservoir as she clicked off one interval after the other with no more than a one-second variation in her times.

Lidia is an iconic figure among Japan’s enthusiastic marathon fans, well-known not only for her years of success at Osaka, but also for her silver medal just behind Naoko Takahashi at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Marathon and for defeating Reiko Tosa for the gold medal the following summer at the IAAF World Championships in Edmonton.

Click here for the event’s Japanese-language website. (http://www.osaka-marathon.jp/)

Lidia’s history at Osaka

1997            3^rd place in 2:27:04

1998            1^st place in 2:28:31

1999            1^st place in 2:23:24

2000            1^st place in 2:22:54

2005            5^th place in 2:27:01

2006            9^th place in 2:33:53

2007            6^th place in 2:32:09

2008            6^th place in 2:27:17

2009            5^th place in 2:27:14

2010            ??

Lidia also had an excellent 5^th-place result at the 2007 IAAF Osaka World Championships marathon held on the same course in the steambath conditions of summer in Japan.