AKB48 member Akimoto Sayaka will be challenging the “Tokyo Marathon 2011“, which will be held on February 27th. Although she has tried the half marathon two years ago, this will be the first time she has challenged the full marathon of just over 42 km.

Akimoto confessed that she is weak on long-distance running, despite being quite athletic. According to Akimoto, the biggest reason why she would challenge the full marathon is related to the scandal which was reported back in October 2010. Because of the scandal, Akimoto resigned as the captain of Team K. ”Since I made my fellows and fans, who have been supporting me, worried last year, I wanted to show them a person that can re-start for 2011“, Akimoto expressed.

She also said, “I also want to meet ‘my new self’ who challenges hard tasks without running from them, but rather overcomes them.”

She is currently training with Ozaki Akemi, who was the winner of “Athens Classic Marathon” in 2009.

Other than Akimoto, there will be other celebrities who are challenging the “Tokyo Marathon 2011″, such as Kokubun Taichi (TOKIO), Yoshizawa Hitomi, Papaya Suzuki, Ohkushi Erika, and so on, and it will be broadcasted on Fuji TV at 9:00 AM on February 27th.





source: tokyohive