3rd two years ago and runner-up last year, Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) finally got the better of two-time champ Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu), breaking away inside the first 5 km to solo a 1:00:44 for the win and taking more than 30 seconds off Karemi's course record at the Okukuma Road Race half marathon. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) led a small group of Japanese men who tried to follow Mwaura's move, while Karemi initially hung back. Once Karemi caught back up, he and Ichida ran past halfway together before he put on a surge at a water station to drop Ichida and try to close the gap to Mwaura. But a third-straight title in his last race in Japan wasn't to be, as Karemi finished just over a minute behind Mwaura in 1:01:49. Ichida held on to the top Japanese spot at 3rd in a 3-second PB of 1:02:21.
The women's race initially played out as a head-to-head between duos from the Wacoal and Kyocera corporate teams, with Wacoal's Mao Ichiyama and Yuka Ando taking on Kyocera's Anna Matsuda and Yuma Adachi in a lead quartet. Like Mwaura, Ichiyama made the race-breaking move to solo a new 1:10:25 course record for the win, bettering Matsuda's course record from her win last year by over two and a half minutes. Ando, Matsuda and Adachi were also all under Matsuda's old record, with Ando scoring 2nd in 1:11:09, Matsuda 3rd in 1:11:24 and Adachi 4th in 1:11:43.
8th Okukuma Half Marathon
Kumamoto, 1/19/20Men's Half Marathon
1. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:44 - CR
2. Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:01:49
3. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:21
4. Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:49
5. Ryunosuke Hayashi (SGH Group) - 1:02:54
6. Suguru Otagura (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:03:01
7. Tomoya Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin University) - 1:03:08
8. Tatsuya Yamamoto (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:03:13
9. Yuma Shimizu (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:24
10. Daiki Ando (Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:24
Women's Half Marathon
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 1:10:25 - CR
2. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:11:09
3. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 1:11:24
4. Yuma Adachi (Kyocera) - 1:11:43
5. Mana Taniguchi (Wacoal) - 1:13:18
6. Erika Honda (Higo Ginko) - 1:13:57
7. Chika Ihara (Higo Ginko) - 1:13:45
8. Aika Murakami (Nittai University) - 1:14:26
9. Mio Kuroda (Nittai University) - 1:15:35
10. Hiroko Tsuruta (Nittai University) - 1:15:55
© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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