Diamond in the Rough - 17 Yr Old Girl Breaks CR by 9 Minutes and Makes Top 10 Overall at Nishi-Kanasa 14 km (updated)
by Brett Larner
New Nishi-Kanasa Mountain Road Race women's CR holder by 9 minutes, 17 year-old Minami Yamanouchi.
The 11th Nishi-Kanasa 14 km Mountain Road Race took place Nov. 21 in the town of Hitachi Ota, Ibaraki prefecture. For the second year in a row, Kenyans Joaz Ogata and Evan Malarsa of Team Ibaraki Kankyo Kigyo went 1-2, just off Ogata's course record in times of 49:36 and 49:45. The relatively slow pace, just over 3:30/km, reflects the difficulty of the course - a gentle downhill for the first two km, a gradual uphill for the next four, and then a suddenly 300 m climb from 6 km to 9 km followed by an equal descent in only 2 km and then a gradual slope down to the finish.
The big news of the race came in the women's division, where 17 year old Minami Yamanouchi, a high school junior from Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, finished 9th overall. Her time, 54:37, was only five minutes off that of the professional male Kenyan winner, broke the existing women's course …
New Nishi-Kanasa Mountain Road Race women's CR holder by 9 minutes, 17 year-old Minami Yamanouchi.
The 11th Nishi-Kanasa 14 km Mountain Road Race took place Nov. 21 in the town of Hitachi Ota, Ibaraki prefecture. For the second year in a row, Kenyans Joaz Ogata and Evan Malarsa of Team Ibaraki Kankyo Kigyo went 1-2, just off Ogata's course record in times of 49:36 and 49:45. The relatively slow pace, just over 3:30/km, reflects the difficulty of the course - a gentle downhill for the first two km, a gradual uphill for the next four, and then a suddenly 300 m climb from 6 km to 9 km followed by an equal descent in only 2 km and then a gradual slope down to the finish.
The big news of the race came in the women's division, where 17 year old Minami Yamanouchi, a high school junior from Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, finished 9th overall. Her time, 54:37, was only five minutes off that of the professional male Kenyan winner, broke the existing women's course …