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Rematch: Yamauchi, Shibui and Kano in Matsue Ladies Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

The Mar. 15 Matsue Ladies Half Marathon will serve up a spectacular rematch of the 2nd through 4th place finishers from last November's Tokyo International Women's Marathon. Defending Matsue champion Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) will return this year, fresh from a 1:08:29 PB win at February's Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon and in preparation for April's London Marathon.

Facing Yamauchi is the runner she defeated in Marugame, 2008 Sapporo International Half Marathon and Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon San Jose winner Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC). Kano lost to Yamauchi in Marugame by nearly a minute, but with a PB of 1:08:57 from her Sapporo win last summer she will be in a position to offer Yamauchi another stiff challenge. Kano is also preparing for London and is likely to be named to the national team for this summer's World Championships.

Bringing an element of chaos to the matchup is 10000 m national record holder and 2000 Matsue winner Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). While neither Yamauchi nor Kano are elligible to run in the National Jitsugyodan Half Marathon, held the same day in nearby Yamaguchi, Shibui is skipping the national championship race to run against the two runners who beat her in Tokyo last November. Shibui's PB of 1:09:31 is surprisingly slow considering her 10000 m and marathon bests of 30:48.89 and 2:19:41, but with the roll she has been on during the last year she may set a sizeable new mark as she, along with Kano, looks toward August's World Championships marathon.

The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon also serves as the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships. The top university finishers in the race will be selected for the national team for July's World Student Games half marathon in Serbia. The race begins at 10:02 a.m. on Mar. 15. A recorded version will be broadcast nationwide on Fuji TV on Mar. 17 from 2:55 a.m. to 3:50 a.m. International viewers should be able to watch online through one of the sites listed here.

Click here for a complete listing of Matsue's invited elite field.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Commenting on Radcliffe’s withdrawal from this year’s race, Flora London Marathon race director Dave Bedford said: “This is a major blow for Paula. I know how much she wanted to run here this year but luck just does not seem to be on her side.

Paula’s priority must now be to get fully fit hopefully for the World Championships and we wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.

Even without Paula, however, the elite women’s field for 26th April is still one of the strongest we’ve ever had in London and I am sure the race will be a superb spectacle.”
Irina Mikitenko GER 2:19:19
Catherine Ndereba KEN 2:18:47
Zhou Chunxiu CHN 2:19:51
Berhane Adere ETH 2:20:42
Lyudmila Petrova RUS 2:21:29
Constantina Dita ROM 2:21:30
Svetlana Zakharova RUS 2:21:31
Gete Wami ETH 2:21:34
Yuri Kano JPN 2.24.27
Tomo Morimoto JPN 2.24.33
Mara Yamauchi GBR 2:25:03
Martha Komu KEN 2:25:33
Mika Okunaga JPN 2.27.52
Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu NOR 2:29:12
Inga Abitova RUS 2:33:55
Kate O’Neill USA 2:34:04
Liliya Shobukhova RUS Debut
Jo Pavey GBR Debut
March 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Anonymous said…
I think it's smart of Kano to run London. She's going to face sub 2:20 athletes, top 6 olympic athletes. She's probably using this race for experience and to run a personal best.
March 13, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks, Dennis, I had missed that. Okunaga too. Should be interesting.
March 13, 2009 at 12:09 PM
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