Skip to main content

Noguchi and Njoroge Win Sendai International Half Marathon (updated)

by Brett Larner

Athens Olympic marathon gold medalist and Japanese marathon national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) successfully defended her title at the Sendai International Half Marathon on May 11, running 1:08:25 to beat her time from last year`s race by 29 seconds and erase doubts about her fitness level after a spring filled with minor setbacks. The Sendai course, which features a 35 m elevation gain over the final 9 km, played to Noguchi`s strengths as she employed a similar strategy to that she used in winning last November`s Tokyo International Women`s Marathon.

Noguchi went out hard, running course record pace through 15 km despite the cold, rainy conditions which blanketed most of Japan over the weekend. Despited dropping off record pace, she applied pressure on rival Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) of Kenya over the length of the uphill, finally breaking away with an attack around 20 km. Mombi held on to finish 2nd in 1:08:31, a sizeable PB over her previous best mark of 1:09:34 from this past January. The rest of the field was far behind, with 3rd place finisher Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) coming to the goal in 1:11:44.

Noguchi told reporters after the race that she was very pleased with her result and what it means for Beijing. She said her body felt strong and that she is now highly confident for the Olympics.

In the men`s race, Team Komori Corp.`s young ringer Harun Njoroge captured a tight competition, winning in 1:01:55 while rookie Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku) ran a massive 3:34 personal best to take 2nd in 1:02:00. It was a near-replay of Njoroge`s victory in February`s Marugame Half Marathon, where he won by a narrow margin in cold and rainy conditions despite moving to Japan only days before.

Half marathon ace Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokusho Seiko) and Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) was close behind Njoroge and Nakao, finishing in 1:02:05 and 1:02:08 respectively. 12 more runners recorded times under 1:03 including marathon national record holder Toshinari Takaoka who was 9th in 1:02:32. Defending champion Onbeche Mokamba was 32nd with a time of 1:04:44.

Top Results

Women
1. Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex): 1:08:25
2. Julia Mombi (Team Aruze): 1:08:31 PB
3. Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon): 1:11:44
4. Mikiko Hara (Team Nihon ChemiCon): 1:12:38
5. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon): 1:13:26
6. Mai Tagami (Team Aruze): 1:14:47
7. Mizuho Kishi (Team Yamada Denki): 1:15:02 PB
8. Tomomi Higuchi (Team Daihatsu): 1:15:06
9. Miki Oka (Team Daihatsu): 1:15:55
10. Saki Matsumoto (Ritsumeikan University): 1:17:30

Men
1. Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.): 1:01:55
2. Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku): 1:02:00 PB
3. Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokusho Seiko): 1:02:05
4. Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku): 1:02:08 PB
5. Joseph Mwaniki (Team Konica-Minolta): 1:02:23
6. Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Team JR East): 1:02:26 PB
7. Takahiro Kitagawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku): 1:02:28 PB
8. Yuki Abe (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki): 1:02:28 PB
9. Toshinari Takaoka (Team Kanebo): 1:02:32
10. Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica-Minolta): 1:02:39

Complete men`s and women`s results are available from the Sendai International Half Marathon website.

The IAAF`s report on Sendai is here.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...
1 comment
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more