Yamauchi, who was planning to chase the Olympic Games qualifying
standard in next month’s Yokohoma Marathon, has withdrawn from the half
marathon race on Sunday purely as a precautionary measure.

“Mara felt a problem during a training session on Sunday but felt she
would still be able to run in Birmingham,” said Peter Riley, elite
athletes manager of the Bupa Great Birmingham Run.

“However after doing some cross training it has become a little
painful in the last couple of days and she feels it will take a few more
before she is ready to race.”

The 2008 Olympic Marathon sixth-place finisher was scheduled to face
Louise Damen, who will be one of her main rivals for a place in next
year’s British team for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Gemma Steel
who is establishing herself as one of the country’s most consistent
distant running performers.

Yamauchi, after a 10 month lay off with a troublesome hamstring
injury, made an inconspicious return to action when dropping out of last
month’s Bupa Great North feeling unwell eight miles into the race.

However the 38-year-old quickly bounced back when, three weeks later,
she was a runaway winner of the ASICS Grand 10k road race in Berlin in a
time just two seconds shy of her lifetime best.

Riley, fully understanding her decision, said there is every
likelihood that Yamauchi, who needs a race before Yokohoma, may now
compete in the Bupa Great South Run over 10 miles next weekend.

The Bupa Great Birmingham Run will feature the presence of Haile
Gebrselassie in the men’s race, who will be making his first appearance
since dropping out of the BMW Berlin Marathon a month ago with breathing
problems, the venue where he also lost his world record to Kenya’s
Patrick Makau.

Ends

Further information:

David Hart, Communications Director – 07771 983688

Editors Notes

Nova International

The Bupa Great Birmingham Run is brought to you by a partnership
arrangement between Birmingham City Council and event organisers Nova
International and is sponsored by Bupa.

Nova International, headed by Olympic medalist, Brendan Foster, is
one of the UK’s leading event management and sports marketing agencies.
The company’s unique current brand portfolio also includes some of the
biggest running events in the world all based on the Bupa Great North
Run, the world’s biggest half marathon with over 54,000 entries.

Nova International was established in 1988 and has a strong sporting
pedigree. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Nova has established itself as a
market leader in the world of sports marketing and event management.
For more information please visit www.greatrun.org.

Bupa

Bupa’s purpose is to help people lead longer, healthier, happier lives.

A leading international healthcare group, we offer personal and
company health insurance, run care homes for older people and hospitals,
and provide workplace health services, health assessments and chronic
disease management services, including health coaching, and home
healthcare.

With no shareholders, we invest our profits to provide more and
better healthcare. We are committed to making quality, patient-centred,
affordable healthcare more accessible in the areas of wellness, chronic
disease management and ageing.

Employing nearly 52,000 people, Bupa has operations around the world,
principally in the UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and the USA, as
well as Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, China and across Latin
America.

For more information, visit www.bupa.com