Harumi Hiroyama and Hiromi Ominami are among the 11 Japanese invitees who will compete in the upcoming Osaka International Women's Marathon, organizers said Wednesday.
Hiroyama, who ran the 10,000 meters at the Athens Olympics, will be joined by Ominami, who finished second at the Berlin Marathon in September, in the Jan. 30 race which also serves as a qualifier for the Helsinki world championships to be held next summer. Foreign invitees include Sydney Olympic silver-medalist and three-time Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Lidia Simon of Romania and Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia.