Obare Wins Matsue Ladies' Half

by Brett Larner

2010 Matsue Ladies Half Marathon winner Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) returned to the top Mar. 17, winning the 2013 edition of the race in 1:11:11. Doubling as the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships and the selection race for the Japanese women's half marathon squad for this summer's World University Games, Obare was up against an almost entire collegiate field and saw tough competition from Yasuka Ueno (Tsukuba Univ.), who challenged for the win before falling back and taking 2nd in 1:11:30. Ayako Mitsui of 2012 national champion Ritsumeikan University and Meijo University ace Aki Odagiri rounded out the collegiate top three to secure themselves places on the World University Games team, while last year's winner Ayame Takaki (Meijo Univ.) was only 26th. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) took the 10 km division in 33:19.

2013 Matsue Ladies Half Marathon
National University Women's Half Marathon Championships
Matsue, 3/17/13
click here for complete results

Half Marathon
1. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 1:11:11
2. Yasuka Ueno (Tsukuba Univ.) - 1:11:30
3. Ayako Mitsui (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:12:28
4. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 1:12:58
5. Yukiko Okuno (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 1:13:05
6. Hitomi Suzuki (Tamagawa Univ.) - 1:13:16
7. Aiko Sakata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:13:26
8. Maki Ashi (Nittai Univ.) - 1:13:29
9. Kana Orino (Osaka Geidai Univ.) - 1:13:38
10. Hiromi Hikida (Nittai Univ.) - 1:13:40

10 km
1. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) - 33:19
2. Misato Yamaguchi (Team Hokuren) - 34:56
3. Maria Tanaka (Hirata H.S.) - 35:23

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

japan running news

Search This Blog