Skip to main content

Chepyego Breaks Sanyo Ladies' Half Course Record

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove

2013 winner and 2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) returned to the Sanyo Ladies' Road Race half marathon today, breaking her own course record to win in 1:08:17.  A large pack of 15 including Chepyego, top-ranked Japanese women Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya), Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) and Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) and 2015 Marugame Half winner Eloise Wellings (Australia) went out conservatively just over 1:10 pace.  The pack shrank to 6 as Chepyego pushed the pace into 1:07 territory approaching 10 km, and with a surge early into the second half she was away.  Chepyego ran free to the end, cutting 7 seconds off her 2013 CR and finishing just outside the top 10 in the world this year.

Ohara, already with sub-1:10 credentials to her name, was left chasing Chepyego alongside the debuting Pauline Kamulu (Team Route Inn Hotels).  When Kamulu struggled in the last 5 km Ohara left her behind, racing on to a new PB of 1:09:17 and a #1 ranking at the half marathon among Japanese women in 2015.  Kamulu hung on to 3rd in 1:09:44, a quality debut. 

Having run behind the lead group until 10 km, first-timer Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) ran down Wellings and other stragglers to take 4th in 1:09:51, one of the better Japanese debuts in recent years.  Another first-timer, Mirai Waku (Team Universal Entertainment) lost touch with the leaders after 10 km and dropped as far as 15 seconds behind Wellings before rallying and closing.  In a photo finish Wellings took 5th in a PB 1:09:56, Waku clocking the same time in another strong debut.  Numata and Kato faded outside the 1:10 barrier, finsihing 7th and 9th.  With Sanyo counting as the first selection race for the Japanese team for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships Ohara looks like a solid in, with Ando and Waku up for possible consideration pending the outcome of the other races early next year.

In the 10 km, Japan-based Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) made yet another strong debut, beating two-time defending champion and teammate Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts) to win in 32:03, the second-fastest winning time in the event's 34-year history.  Kimanzi took 4th in 32:46 behind 2012 winner Felista Wanjugu (Team Universal Entertainment) and the debuting Mariam Waithera (Team Kyudenko), a junior teammate of half marathon winner Chepyego.  The top Japanese finisher was Nao Yamamoto (Team Toyota Jidoshokki), 5th in 33:01 in her road 10 km debut.

34th Sanyo Ladies' Road Race
Okayama, 12/23/15
click here for complete results

Yuki Arimori Cup Half Marathon
1. Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Kenya/Kyudenko) - 1:08:17 - CR
2. Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) - 1:09:17 - PB
3. Pauline Kamulu (Kenya/Route Inn Hotels) - 1:09:44 - debut
4. Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 - debut
5. Eloise Wellings (Australia) - 1:09:56 - PB
6. Mirai Waku (Universal Entertainment) - 1:09:56 - debut
7. Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 1:10:17
8. Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 1:10:27
9. Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:10:30
10. Reia Iwade (Noritz) - 1:11:18
-----
17. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:12:17

Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km
1. Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Starts) - 32:03 - debut
2. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Universal Entertainment) - 32:24
3. Mariam Waithera (Kenya/Kyudenko) - 32:34 - debut
4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Starts) - 32:46
5. Nao Yamamoto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 33:01 - debut
6. Yuki Yokoishi (Kyudenko) - 33:04 - debut
7. Junna Fujii (Tenmaya) - 33:07 - PB
8. Kumi Ogura (Toenec) - 33:12 - PB
9. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 33:15 - debut
10. Yumi Yoshikawa (Tenmaya) - 33:33 - PB

text © 2015 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photos © 2015 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Samurai Running said…
Great race for Eloise Wellings of Australia. Think that, as well as a PB, is the fastest half by an Australian woman this year.
December 23, 2015 at 7:58 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Olympian Kentaro Nakamoto Wins Fukuoka Marathon

A record-breaking number of participants ran the Fukuoka Marathon yesterday. In its 12th edition, the mass-participation race welcomed 15,102 participants, the most in its history, and included a 42.195 km full marathon, 5.2 km fun run and 5.2 km wheelchair race. The race started at 8:20 a.m. at Tenjin in central Fukuoka. Following a seaside course out of downtown Fukuoka it finished at Koryu Plaza in Itoshima. Despite wet conditions 96.3% of starters finished the race. Kentaro Nakamoto , head coach of the Fukuoka-based Yasukawa Denki corporate team and a 2012 Olympian, won the men's race in 2:23:21. Amateur Kanami Shigemoto won the women's race in 2:55:47, with Koki Takemura taking the wheelchair title in 11:32. source articles: https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/item/1421322/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZknZZD16kE translated and edited by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more

Nationally-Ranked Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. Withdraws From Region Championships Due to Bear Attacks

5th at last year's National High School Ekiden boys' race, Fukushima's Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. has withdrawn its boys' and girls' team from the Nov. 6 Tohoku Region Ekiden Championships in Fukushima. A school spokesperson commented, "We made this decision based on the likelihood of our students coming into contact with bears in the city when out running in the morning." The Akita Athletics Association had already made an announcement on its website on Oct. 31 that due to the high number of bear encounters within the city of Akita this year , the ekiden would be held on a track instead of as a road race. Organizers said that they are leaving it up to each individual school whether to participate, and that they will accept schools choosing not to participate due to safety concerns. The Gakuho Ishikawa boys and girls both won the Fukushima Prefecture High School Ekiden in October, earning them places at the Tohoku regional meet and December's National High...
Post a Comment
Read more