Last Sunday’s Nagoya International Women’s Marathon was to have been the third and final qualification race for Japanese women to go to this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea. With the earthquake and tsunami barely 24 hours old, race organizers and the Japanese Association of Athletic Federations made the necessary decision on Saturday afternoon to cancel this year’s Nagoya race. After several days’ discussion, all the while watching the devastation mount, the decision was made to use the April 17th Nagano Olympic Memorial Marathon as the replacement qualification race for Nagoya. While cognizant of the longer-term fundraising and attention that will have to be provided to Japan, throughout this past week a number of international race directors contacted me with their offers to do “whatever we can” for the Japanese women and the other athletes affected by last Sunday’s cancellation of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon. I informed our coaches and friends in Japan’s athletic federation about the quick kindness and generosity from overseas, no easy task for race directors whose invited athlete budgets had been depleted long ago for this Spring’s major races. Los Angeles, Seoul, Rotterdam, Vienna, London, and, of course, New York, had me relay their offers to our friends across Japan. Monday morning the first request came from Yuri Kano’s coach, Manabu Kawagoe, to see if it might be possible for Yuri Kano (Second WInd AC/Mizuno) to compete in this weekend’s New York City Half-Marathon. The response to my e-mail to Mary Wittenberg was nearly instantaneous. A clear and emphatic text back from Mary: “Absolutely. We will figure out Yuri and other Japanese.” Yuri has competed in New York City races more than any other elite Japanese athletes; Sunday will be her ninth appearance on the city’s roads.  Very quickly, two other of this weekend’s major races followed suit. The City of Los Angeles Marathon has invited Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC/MIzuno) and Russia’s Albina Mayorova, both of whom were due to run Nagoya, while the Seoul Dong-A Marathon quickly arranged the logistics for Lidia Simon (ASICS) to travel from Nagoya to Seoul. For the other Japanese women, the response has been heartwarming…Rotterdam, London, and Vienna have put open offers on the table to accommodate the Japanese women if Nagano fails to take place or if any of the women decide against racing there. There is certain to be some big news as we work these invitations out next week.