February 26, 2006 JAPANESE REGAIN WORLD 24-HOUR RUN TITLES, U.S. TEAMS 5TH & 6TH Ryoichi Sekiya and Sumie Inagaki of Japan won the World 24-Hour titles this weekend in Taipei, Taiwan.  Running steadily through day and night in overcast, damp conditions (60 degrees farenheit and humidity over 90%), the two Japanese human metronomes took charge of the race after the first few hours and were never seriously challenged.  They recaptured the gold medals they had won in the 2004 World All Day/All Night race but then had lost by a few places in 2005.  Sekiya led his countrymen to team victory over France and Italy.  Inagaki's 6km victory margin over Lyudmila Kalinina could not overcome the powerhouse of the silver medalist's distaff teammates, as the Russian women prevailed again over the Japanese.  The U.S. Men's and Women's teams placed 5th and 6th, respectively.  John Geesler, for the 3rd time in the 4-year history of the World 24-Hour event, led the American men, placing 23rd overall.  Employing a rare strategy of running together, step for step for the entire race, Sandy Powell and Pam Reed tied for 19th place to lead the American women. -Dan Brannen American Ultrarunning Association TOP 10 MEN 1 RYOICHI SEKIYA JPN 272.936km 2 MAGROUN MOHAMED FRA 248.563km 3 VLADIMIR BYCHKOV RUS 246.098km 4 OSVALDO BELTRAMINO ITA 245.698km 5 MASAYUKI OTAKI JPN 244.572km 6 HOBLEA FABIEN FRA 243.709km 7 KENJI OKIYAMA JPN 238.061km 8 ENRICO BARTOLINI ITA 235.100km 9 KIM KWANGBOK KOR  233.522km 10 ANDREI KAZANTSEV RUS  233.415km AMERICAN MEN 23 JOHN GEESLER USA 221.859km 25 ALEX SWENSON USA 219.272km 29 ROY PIRRUNG USA 212.969km 38 DANNY RIPKA USA 201.765km 44 SCOTT EPPELMAN USA 189.361km   Men's National Teams 1. Japan - 755,569km 238,061.00 59 JPN KENJI OKIYAMA 244,572.00 54 JPN MASAYUKI OTAKI 272,936.00 55 JPN RYOICHI SEKIYA 2. France - 724,412km 232,140.00 23 FRA GUYOMARCH JEAN PIERRE 243,709.00 22 FRA HOBLEA FABIEN 248,563.00 20 FRA MAGROUN MOHAMED 3. Italy - 709,677km 228,879.00 43 ITA GASTONE BARICHELLO 235,100.00 45 ITA ENRICO BARTOLINI 245,698.00 42 ITA OSVALDO BELTRAMINO 4. Russia - 708,359km 228,846.00 76 RUS VLADIMIR TIVIKOV 233,415.00 75 RUS ANDREI KAZANTSEV 246,098.00 74 RUS VLADIMIR BYCHKOV 5. USA - 654,100km 212,969.00 101 USA ROY PIRRUNG 219,272.00 103 USA ALEX SWENSON 221,859.00 99 USA John Geesler   TOP 10 WOMEN 1 SUMIE INAGAKI JPN 237.144km 2 LYUDMILA KALININA RUS  231.356km 3 KIMIE NOTO JPN 229.146km 4 GALINA EREMINA RUS  223.208km 5 IRINA REUTOVICH RUS  216.913km 6 KAREN MARIE BROEGGER DEN  213.427km 7 CAROLYNNE TASSIE NZL 212.348km 8 CHIOU SHU JUNG TPE 206.287km 9 JANNEKE CAZEMIER NED 203.625km 10 RIMMA PALTSEVA RUS  202.705km AMERICAN WOMEN 19 SANDY POWELL USA 191.336km 19 PAM REED USA 191.336km 24 SUE OLSEN USA 181.696km 30 LAURA NELSON USA 156.057km   Women's National Teams 1. Russia - 671,477km 216,913.00 78 RUS IRINA REUTOVICH 223,208.00 77 RUS GALINA EREMINA 231,356.00 80 RUS LYUDMILA KALININA 2. Japan - 654,555km 188,265.00 63 JPN HIROKO OKIYAMA 229,146.00 61 JPN KIMIE NOTO 237,144.00 60 JPN SUMIE INAGAKI 3. France - 596,172km 196,298.00 26 FRA BEC BRIGITTE 197,285.00 27 FRA JEHANNO VERONIQUE 202,589.00 28 FRA FIRMIN NATHALIE 4. Taiwan - 585,415km 182,165.00 97 TPE LIN MONG CHI 196,963.00 98 TPE CHU MEI JUNG 206,287.00 95 TPE CHIOU SHU JUNG 5. Italy - 571,598km 169,354.00 53 ITA CARMELA DI DOMENICO 200,315.00 51 ITA MONIKA MOLING 201,929.00 50 ITA LORENA DI VITO 6. USA - 564,368km 181,696.00 108 USA SUE OLSEN 191,336.00 106 USA SANDY POWELL 191,336.00 107 USA PAM REED This year's National 24-Hour Run Team was sponsored by Recover-Ease, a  new endurance athlete recovery supplement (www.recover-ease.com).