In its second edition the Niigata Half Marathon continued to grow into an important end-of-season event, with Kazuya Azegami (Teikyo Univ.) leading eight men including teammate Takeshi Tamura under 1:03. Ryunosuke Matsuo (Tokai Univ.) made a move to break away near 15 km, but Azegami fought back to open a 5-second lead by 20 km on the way to the win in 1:02:30. In the women's race, Kanayo Miyata (Yutaka Giken) closed a 35-second gap at halfway to breakaway leader Haruka Wada (Shimamura), overtaking Wada in the final kilometer to win in 1:15:31 to 1:15:33.
At the 39th running of the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, 2:23:19 marathoner Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) returned from a long layoff to take the win in 1:11:39, dropping rival Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the final kilometer to win by 6 seconds. Doubling as the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships, 3rd placer Hitomi Mizuguchi (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) scored the national title in 1:12:34 by a margin of 7 seconds over Hikaru Sudo (Tohoku Fukushi Univ.). In the 10 km, Yuka Takahsima (Shiseido) dropped a course record 32:29 to win by 20 seconds over Yuko Kikuchi (Hokuren).
2nd Niigata Half Marathon
Niigata, 3/18/18click here for complete results
Men
1. Kazuya Azegami (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:30
2. Ryunosuke Matsuo (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:35
3. Taisei Nakamura (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:44
4. Akito Terui (ND Software) - 1:02:47
5. Shintaro Miwa (NTN) - 1:02:49
6. Kazuyoshi Chiba (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:02:51
7. Haruki Minatoya (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:52
8. Takeshi Tamura (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:55
9. Shun Sakuraoka (NTN) - 1:03:14
10. Ryosuke Maki (Subaru) - 1:03:29
Women
1. Kanayo Miyata (Yutaka Giken) - 1:15:31
2. Haruka Wada (Shimamura) - 1:15:33
3. Eri Watanabe (Aichi Denki) - 1:15:54
39th Matsue Ladies Half Marathon
Matsue, Shimane, 3/18/18click here for complete results
Half Marathon
1. Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:39
2. Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:11:45
3. Hitomi Mizuguchi (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:34
4. Shiori Morita (Panasonic) - 1:12:38
5. Hikaru Sudo (Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 1:12:41
6. Ayaka Ogumi (Tamagawa Univ.) - 1:12:43
7. Moeno Shimizu (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:12:45
8. Reno Okura (Hokuren) - 1:12:47
9. Nao Isaka (Hitachi) - 1:13:17
10. Chisato Nagai (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:40
10 km
1. Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 32:29 - CR
2. Yuko Kikuchi (Hokuren) - 32:49
3. Yui Fukuda (Hokuren) - 33:53
4. Yuna Terashima (Hokuren) - 34:18
5. Mari Tayama (Hitachi) - 35:23
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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