Two and a half years after scoring invitations to the United Airlines NYC Half by taking the top two Japanese collegiate places at the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon, Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera finally got the chance to run. Going with the hot early pace set by heavy favorite Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, neither was able to stay with past 5 km. Onodera dropped off first, with Akasaki lasting longer but not able to handle sub-61 pace on the tough, hilly course either. Akasaki ended up 17th in 1:03:31 and Onodera 23rd in 1:05:00.
Post-race, Akasaki, now with the Kyudenko corporate team, said, "I was really happy to get the chance to run this race after two years. Along the way there were a lot of hard times with the corona pandemic, but I'm really glad to come out on the other side of that and be able to run a hard race." Onodera, now running for the Toyota Boshoku team, said, "This was my first international race, and even though my time was terrible I really enjoyed it. I'd been looking forward to it for two years, and I learned a lot."
United Airlines NYC Half
New York, USA, 20 Mar. 2022
Men
1. Rhonex Kipruto (Kenya) - 1:00:30
2. Edward Cheserek (Kenya) - 1:00:37
3. Teshome Mekonen (Ethiopia) - 1:00:40
4. Shadrack Kipchirchir (U.S.A.) - 1:01:16
5. Conner Mantz (U.S.A.) - 1:01:40
6. Sam Chelanga (U.S.A.) - 1:01:49
7. Reed Fischer (U.S.A.) - 1:02:06
8. Abbabiya Simbassa (U.S.A.) - 1:02:09
9. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 1:02:10
10. Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 1:02:19
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17. Akira Akasaki (Japan) - 1:03:31
23. Haruka Onodera (Japan) - 1:05:00
Women
1. Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia) - 1:07:35
2. Irine Cheptai (Kenya) - 1:07:37
3. Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal (Norway) - 1:08:07
4. Sharon Lokedi (Kenya) - 1:08:14
5. Lindsay Flanagan (U.S.A.) - 1:09:50
6. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:09:57
7. Natasha Wodak (Canada) - 1:10:01
8. Annie Frisbie (U.S.A.) - 1:10:14
9. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:10:22
10. Stephanie Bruce (U.S.A.) - 1:10:26
text and photos © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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