Skip to main content

Ohara and Wanjiru Negative Split Way to Wins at 35th Anniversary Sanyo Ladies Road Race

by Brett Larner


Japan's Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) and Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) went it alone to win the 35th anniversary Sanyo Ladies' Road Race half marathon and 10 km divisions with strong negative split runs.

After a slow 17:00 first 5 km in the half Ohara got to work, covering the next 5 km in 16:24 and opening a 16-second lead over a pack of nine led by Rio Olympics marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  From there she never faltered, her pace holding steady all the way to a 1:10:03 win.  38 seconds behind, Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) took 2nd in 1:10:42 with relative newcomer Ayaka Fujimoto (Team Kyocera) 3rd in 1:11:20.  Ito faded to 5th in 1:11:39 just ahead of London Olympics marathoner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya).  Invited Australians Eloise Wellings and Cassie Fien were both DNFs, Fien dropping out before 5 km and Wellings before 10 km.


In the 10 km Wanjiru was out front from the beginning, hitting 5km in 16:11 with a 12-second lead over teammate Grace Kimanzi (Team Starts).  Turning it on in the second half she covered the return trip in 15:53 to score her second-straight Sanyo win in 32:04, one second slower than last year.  Kimanzi, the 2013-14 Sanyo winner, also negative splitted, taking 2nd in 32:21.  Kato's teammate Mariam Waithera (Team Kyudenko) was 3rd in 33:09, just holding off top Japanese woman Kanayo Miyata (Team Yutaka Giken).

35th Anniversary Sanyo Ladies Road Race
Okayama, 12/23/16

Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon
1. Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) - 1:10:04
2. Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 1:10:42
3. Ayaka Fujimoto (Kyocera) - 1:11:20
4. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:11:36
5. Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:39
6. Risa Shigetomo (Tenmaya) - 1:11:47
7. Yukari Ishizawa (Edion) - 1:11:54
8. Sayo Nomura (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:12:10
9. Misato Horie (Noritz) - 1:12:30
10. Ai Utsunomiya (Miyazaki Ginko) - 1:13:01
-----
DNF - Cassie Fien (Australia)
DNF - Eloise Wellings (Australia)

Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km
1. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Starts)- 32:04
2. Grace Mbuthi Kimanzi (Starts) - 32:21
3. Mariam Waithera Mururi (Kyudenko) - 33:09
4. Kanayo Miyata (Yutaka Giken) - 33:11
5. Yuka Miyazaki (Kyudenko) - 33:27
6. Mai Nishiwaki (Tenmaya) - 33:35
7. Ann Karindi (Toyota Boshoku) - 33:37
8. Fumika Sasaki (Daiichi Seimei) - 33:37
9. Mayuka Toda (Kyocera) - 33:40
10. Rina Yamashita (Kyudenko) - 33:48

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more