Held alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon, the Osaka Half Marathon has continued to grow at the elite level into one of the post-ekiden season's top-tier Japanese half marathons. On the women's side, Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) was just off her best as she won in 1:11:26, opening a lead of over 20 seconds in the first 5 km and going the rest of the way alone. Ayaka Yokose (Yamada Denki) was the only other woman to crack 1:12, 2nd in 1:11:58. Taiwanese national record holder Chien-ho Hsieh spent most of the race in 3rd, but despite getting caught by Madoka Nakano (Noritz) with just over 5 km to go Hsieh pushed on to take almost three minutes off her own national record, landing 4th in 1:12:19.
The men's race saw a deep pack go through halfway on sub-1:02 pace, things slowing slightly before 15 km but no real carnage happening until the final stages. With seven still in contention with just over a kilometer to go it came down to a sprint finish on the track, the group boiling down rapidly over the last lap to a duel between Kazuma Ito (Sumitomo Denki) and Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki). Ito got the win in 1:02:10, lopping 55 seconds off the Osaka course record set just last year and 24 seconds off his own best.
The 35-year-old Nakamoto, Japan's best championship marathoner with three top ten finishes at the World Championships and one at the Olympics, was right behind him in 1:02:12, taking 17 seconds off his PB set way back in 2009. Due for a duel with longtime rival Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) at April's Boston Marathon, Nakamoto was also 6 seconds under Kawauchi's best for the half marathon. In 6th, Tsuyoshi Bando (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) ran an excellent 1:02:25, a rare sub-1:03 clocking by a non-Hakone Ekiden university from outside the Kanto Region. The top ten all broke the old course record of 1:03:05, a big jump in depth and quality that lands Osaka just behind next weekend's Marugame Half on Japan's list of key winter races.
Osaka Half Marathon
Osaka, 1/28/18click here for women's results
click here for men's results
Women
1. Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) - 1:11:26
2. Ayaka Yokose (Yamada Denki) - 1:11:58
3. Madoka Nakano (Noritz) - 1:12:12
4. Chien-Ho Hsieh (Taiwan) - 1:12:19 - NR
5. Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:31
6. Ayano Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:13:20
7. Rui Nishida (Sysmex) - 1:13:34
8. Asuka Yamamoto (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:37
9. Mami Onuki (Sysmex) - 1:14:03
10. Yuki Kanehira (Sysmex) - 1:14:19
Men
1. Kazuma Ito (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:02:10 - CR
2. Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:02:12
3. Ryusei Takahashi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:14
4. Koki Tanaka (Kanebo) - 1:02:15
5. Masato Terauchi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:23
6. Tsuyoshi Bando (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:25
7. Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:29
8. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:02:35
9. Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:39
10. Yuichiro Nishikawa (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:42
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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