Skip to main content

Mara Yamauchi Defends Matsue Title

by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics women's marathon 5th place finisher Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) outran Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) for the second time this year to defend her Matsue Ladies Half Marathon title. Strong winds kept times slow overall, but Yamauchi won by nearly a minute in 1:10:09 with Kano 2nd in 1:11:02. Meijo University runners took 3rd through 5th place to sweep the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships and assure Meijo of solid representation on the national team at July's World Student Games.

The expected three-way battle up front did not take place when 2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) felt some discomfort in her left knee and opted to jog the 10 km race as a guest runner. As in February's Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon Yamauchi went out hard, covering the first 5 km in 16:17 to Kano's 16:36 with a large pack led by Meijo runners Kikuyo Tsuzaki, Sayo Nomura and Seika Nishikawa running a more conservative 17:02. Yamauchi then continued to widen her lead, running each of her subsequent 5 km splits faster than Kano. Kano in turn widened her lead over the top pack through 15 km, but between 15 and 20 km she lost 11 seconds to the Meijo runners.

The final 1.0975 km were a game of chase, as Tsuzaki and Nomura continued to close on Kano, who likewise narrowed the gap to Yamauchi. In both cases the margins were too large, however, and the final finish order remained as it had been throughout much of the race. Yamauchi and Kano will next face each other in April's London Marathon. Tsuzaki will be selected for the World Student Games and is likely to be joined by at least Nomura.

Complete results for the 2009 Matsue Ladies Half Marathon are available in PDF format here. The race will be broadcast nationwide on Mar. 17 from 2:55 a.m. to 3:50 a.m. on Fuji TV. International viewers should be able to watch online through one of the sites listed here.

2009 Matsue Ladies Half Marathon
1. Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) - 1:10:09
2. Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) - 1:11:02
3. Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:53
4. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:54
5. Seika Nishikawa (Meijo Univ.) - 1:12:04
6. Ayaka Ohira (Team Daihatsu) - 1:12:13
7. Satoko Uetani (Kobe Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:29
8. Seika Iwamura (Team Daihatsu) - 1:12:30
9. Manami Takemori (Team Sysmex) - 1:12:34
10. Misato Tanaka (Team Sysmex) - 1:12:40

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow! Mara is 36 years old and she won 2 half marathons. Her personal best for the marathon should be much faster than 2:25:03.
March 17, 2009 at 7:56 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more