2020 Senshu Marathon

The guest runner for 2020 from Berkeley was going to be Talia Stewart.  Unfortunately, about 2 weeks before the marathon, Talia had to cancel. Talia works as an Accounting Office Specialist in the Finance Department of the City of Berkeley. She is married and has two sons, 4 and 5 years old. Talia was active in track and field in school and has a special interest in art. She is a strong runner and is very excited about running a marathon in Sakai.  She is visiting Japan with her husband for the first time. They will also  planning to visit Tokyo and the Olympic Stadium during their trip.

The Senshu International City Marathon was started in September 1994 by Sakai City and nine other cities and four towns in Osaka Prefecture to commemorate the opening of the Kansai International Airport. (KIX).  Besides Berkeley, Sakai has 3 other sister cities (Wellington, the capital of New Zealand; Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, China; and just recently Danang City, Vietnam) who also have runners participating in the marathon.

The 27th KIX Senshu International Marathon took place on Sunday, February 16, 2020.

Past Senshu-Marathon Runners

Senshu-Marathon Runners

1994 Ruth Grimes, City Planner, City of Berkeley Fire Dept.

1995 Mike Palmer

1996 No runner from Berkeley

1997 Jim Keene, City Manager, City of Berkeley

1998 Lillian Mitchell, Architect, Berkeley

1999 Chris Randall, Clif Bar, Inc., Berkeley

2000 Michael Caplan, Downtown Coordinator, Office of Economic Development, City of Berkeley (position changed to Community Liaison)

2001 Mickye Adams, M. D., Obstetrician, Alta Bates Hospital

2002 Laura Allen, Senior Management Analyst, City of Berkeley

2003 Jonathan Mayer, 5th Grade Teacher, Le Conte Elementary School, Berkeley

2004 Deborah Busler, Social Worker, Alameda County Social Services Department

2005 Awilda Logan, LeConte Elementary School teacher

2006 Tracy Vesely, City of Berkeley Budget Manager

2007 Corey Creasey, Adidas Transports Running Club

2008 Jessica Nichole Handcock, UCB Student/Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders

2009 Tim Kaplan, City of Berkeley Police Officer

2010 Skyler Ramey, City of Berkeley Police Officer

2011 David Allen Vass, 911 Dispatcher, Berkeley Police Dept.

2012 Steve Rego, Project Manager, Public Safety Technology
      System, Berkeley Police Department

2013 Douglas Royer, Software Engineer
        Alfonso Munoz, Berkeley City Firefighter

2014 Michael Dragovich, Berkeley City Firefighter/Medic

2015 Tim MacIsaac, Berkeley City Firefighter/Captain

2016 David Gabriner, Berkeley City Firefighter/Apparatus Operator

2017 Rachel Valenzuela, Berkeley City Firefighter

2018 Tom Bowring, Berkeley City Firefighter/Paramedic

2019 Rachel Valenzuela, Berkeley City Firefighter (Rachel decided she could not go)

2020 Senshu-Marathon cancelled due to Covid-19

2021 Senshu-Marathon cancelled due to Covid-19

 

2018 Senshu Marathon

This year's Senshu International City Marathon runner was Tom Bowring, a firefighter and paramedic with the City of Berkeley Fire Department.  Originally from Australia, Tom has been with the fire department two years.  He and his wife, Nazarena Sadati, have a great love of travel and really appreciated this opportunity to visit Sakai.  Their stay in Sakai was for 7 days, from February 16 to February 22, 2018. They had a 3 night home stay with Yaeko & Tomoshige Hirota, who have been great supporters of our sister city friendship and have hosted many of our marathon runners and goodwill visitors. The  invited runner was given a tour of the marathon course on Saturday and attended a Welcome Reception in the evening. The marathon took place on Sunday, February 18.  The visit included a Courtesy Visit to Mayor Takeyama, a visit to a local elementary school, and sightseeing in Sakai with a host family. Airfare to and from Japan and expenses while in Sakai were provided by the Sakai City marathon committee.

2017 Senshu Marathon

Berkeley’s guest runner for the 24^th Senshu International City Marathon was Rachel Valenzuela. She is a medic/firefighter with the Berkeley Fire Department. Rachel is 34 years old, married and has four kids!! She is a very busy lady! Her husband, Stephen Morgan (who is also a Berkeley firefighter), accompanied her to Sakai for the marathon. Rachel and Stephen were in Sakai for a total of 7 days (February 17-23) with the race held on Sunday, February 19. Besides running the marathon, they visited Mayor Takeyama and a local elementary school and were hosted by a Sakai family. After their stay in Sakai, they visited other parts of Japan before returning home.