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Sport Zone Porto Half Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

Portugal's Sport Zone Porto Half Marathon celebrates its 10th running with a strong men's field.  Silas Kimutai (Kenya) leads four men with recent times under 61 minutes followed closely by five more under 62.  Hiroshi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) and Shun Inoura (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) lead the third group of sub-63 men followed by countryman Yusei Nakao (Smiley Angel AC), the top Japanese man at May's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon for the last three years in a row.

Martha Akeno (Kenya) is the top-ranked woman in the field under 71 minutes but could get some competition from Japan's Ayumi Kubo (Team Kagoshima Ginko) who ran 1:11:29 last December.  Nao Isaka (Team Hitachi) should provide a good target for top Portuguese woman Filomena Costa with just 25 seconds separating their recent bests.

10th Sport Zone Porto Half Marathon
Porto, Portugal, 9/18/16
times listed are best within last three years

Men
Silas Kimutai (Kenya) - 1:00:17 (2014)
Mustapha El Aziz (Morocco) - 1:00:39 (2016)
Vincent Chepkop (Kenya) - 1:00:53 (2014)
Joel Kemboi (Kenya) - 1:00:58 (2015)
Emmanuel Bor (Kenya) - 1:01:04 (2016)
Daniel Rotich (Uganda) - 1:01:45 (2014)
Teklemariam Medhin (Eritrea) - 1:01:47 (2014)
Moses Kipkosgei (Kenya) - 1:01:55 (2014)
Lucas Rotich (Kenya) - 1:01:57 (2014)
Hiroshi Ichida (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:25 (2015)
Shun Inoura (Japan/Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:02:32 (2014)
Pius Maiyo (Kenya) - 1:02:37 (2016)
Sammy Kurui (Kenya) - 1:02:41 (2015)
Simone Gariboldi (Italy) - 1:02:51 (2015)
Jacob Cheshari (Kenya) - 1:03:01 (2013)
Yusei Nakao (Japan/Smiley Angel AC) - 1:03:24 (2014)
Jose Moreira (Portugal) - 1:04:19 (2014)
Daniel Pinheiro (Portugal) - 1:04:45 (2014)
Rui Teixeira (Portugal) - 1:05:20 (2015)

Women
Martha Akeno (Kenya) - 1:10:56 (2015)
Ayumi Kubo (Japan/Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:11:29 (2015)
Nao Isaka (Japan/Hitachi) - 1:12:21 (2016)
Filomena Costa (Portugal) - 1:12:46 (2015)
Emma Linda Quaglia (Italy) - 1:14:00 (2014)
Catarina Ribeiro (Portugal) - 1:14:01 (2013)
Vera Nunes (Portugal) - 1:16:46 (2013)

photo © 2016 Brett Larner
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