Lemeteki and Aoki Win Shibetsu Half

Kenyan Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) and relative unknown Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) took the top spots in hot and sunny conditions at the Shibetsu Half Marathon in Hokkaido. With Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) doing early frontrunning in the men's race only to fade to a 20th-place finish in 1:06:40 Lemeteki had little competition for the win in 1:03:25. 2017 Shibetsu winner Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) was the top Japanese man at 2nd in 1:03:42, beating MGC Race Olympic marathon trials qualifiers Daichi Kamino (New Balance) and Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - by 4 seconds and 11 seconds. Other MGC Race qualifiers Masato Imai (Toyota Jidoshokki), Yuji Iwata (MHPS) and Ryo Kiname (MHPS) all struggled, none of them breaking 66 minutes.

Aoki won the women's race easily in 1:15:12 by almost a minute over Mai Nagaoka (Sysmex). MGC Race qualifiers Reia Iwade (Under Armour) and Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) were listed to start but apparently did not run.

33rd Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon

Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/21/19
complete results

Men
1. Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:03:25
2. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 1:03:42
3. Daichi Kamino (New Balance) - 1:03:46
4. Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:03:53
5. Boniface Murua (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:03
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17. Masato Imai (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:06:05
20. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:06:40
22. Yuji Iwata (MHPS) - 1:06:44
25. Ryo Kiname (MHPS) - 1:06:50

Women
1. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:15:12
2. Mai Nagaoka (Sysmex) - 1:16:11
3. Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:18:05
4. Mai Fujisawa (Saku AC) - 1:18:57
5. Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:19:00

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved