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.
