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Miyauchi Wins Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon, Fujita Third at Great Scottish Run

by Brett Larner

The Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon Championships have a long-standing relationship with overseas half marathons, the top domestic finishers being named to the Japanese team for the World Half Marathon and the next tier being sent to the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon.  This year's Corporate Half was cancelled in the wake of March's natural disasters and the World Half Marathon is likewise not being held, but Japanese athletes turned out as usual at both Rock 'n' Roll and the GSR.

Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), the top Japanese woman over the half marathon distance in 2010, won Rock 'n' Roll in 1:11:48 after a patient race in which she hung back while Kenyan Jane Kibil battled with Olympian Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) and newcomer Fumiko Hashimoto (Team Shimamura).  Inaugural Gifu Half Marathon winner Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) was only 7th in 1:13:37 as Japanese women took 8 of the top 10 positions.  Only two Japanese men cracked the top ten, Hironori Arai (Team Chudenko) taking the top domestic spot in 8th in 1:04:32, over two minutes behind winner Benson Barus (Kenya) who clocked 1:02:21.

Across the Atlantic times were slightly more competitive at the Great Scottish Run.  Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) ran an almost identical time to Miyauchi's, 1:11:51, but was only 3rd in the women's race over two minutes behind Kenyan winning pair Flomena Chepchirchir and Hilda Jepchumba Kibet.  2011 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon 3rd-placer Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) ran 1:03:45 for 5th in the men's race, with Yusuke Kawaminami (Team Osaka Gas) a short way back in 6th and Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) also cracking the top 10.

2011 Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon
Virginia Beach, U.S.A., 9/4/11
click here for complete results

Women
1. Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:11:48
2. Jane Kibil (Kenya) - 1:12:04
3. Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) - 1:12:10
4. Fumiko Hashimoto (Team Shimamura) - 1:12:19
5. Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) - 1:12:34
6. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 1:13:16
7. Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) - 1:13:37
8. Yumi Sato (Team Shiseido) - 1:13:40
9. Nuta Olaru (Romania) - 1:14:05
10. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 1:14:22

Men
1. Benson Barus (Kenya) - 1:02:21
2. Solomon Busendich (Kenya) - 1:02:35
3. Samuel Ndereba (Kenya) - 1:03:01
4. Ryan Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:03:01
5. Reid Coolsaet (Canada) - 1:03:16
6. Eric Gillis (Canada) - 1:03:34
7. Josphat Boit (Kenya) - 1:04:31
8. Hironori Arai (Team Chudenko) - 1:04:32
9. Vyscheslav Shabunin (Russia) - 1:04:49
10. Koichi Sakai (Team Fujitsu) - 1:06:18
-----
12. Kazuki Onishi (Team Kanebo) - 1:07:34

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon
Glasgow, Scotland, 9/4/11
click here for complete results

Women
1. Flomena Chepchirchir (Kenya) - 1:09:26
2. Hilda Jepchumba Kibet (Kenya) - 1:09:36
3. Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 1:11:51
4. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 1:14:06
5. Dinknesh Tefera (Ethiopia) - 1:14:27
6. Fiona Matheson (Scotland) - 1:18:26
7. Hayley Haining (Scotland) - 1:18:46
8. Gemma Rankin (Scotland) - 1:19:56
9. Mhairi Duff (Scotland) - 1:19:59
10. Angela Hibbs (Scotland) - 1:20:20

Men
1. Joseph Birech (Kenya) - 1:01:26
2. Bernard Kipkemoi Rotich (Kenya) - 1:01:28
3. Rashed Essa Ismail (Qatar) - 1:02:10
4. Jason Mbote (Kenya) - 1:02:44
5. Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 1:03:45
6. Yusuke Kawaminami (Team Osaka Gas) - 1:04:25
7. Derek Hawkins (Scotland) - 1:05:24
8. Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab (Eritera) - 1:05:25
9. Dmitry Safronov (Russia) - 1:06:10
10. Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:06:28
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13. Takahiro Aso (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 1:07:59

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
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