Skip to main content

D'Amato Breaks U.S. Half Marathon NR, Robinson Over Mogi on the Gold Coast


American women now own the course records at both Australia's ASICS Half Marathon and Gold Coast Marathon.

With expert pacing from local great Ben St. Lawrence, former U.S. marathon NR holder Keira D'Amato negative split a 1:06:39 national record and Australian all-comers record to win the women's race in the half marathon Saturday. With a group of sub-elite men in town St. Lawrence took D'Amato through the first two 5 km splits in 15:52 and 15:55, just off pace for the 1:06:52 NR with a 1:07:03 projection. From there they incremented ever so slightly faster, with 15:49 and 15:45 splits to put D'Amato at 20 km in 1:03:22 and a 1:06:51 projected finish time.

Just holding what she had would have put her under the record, but D'Amato went hard over the last 1.0975 km, covering it in 3:17, or 2:59/km pace. And with that, she had a new NR and the fastest-ever time by a woman on Australian soil to her name. "The crowd support was great," she said post-race. "I really hope to come back next year and bring my family."
Australians took the next three spots, with Leanne Pompeani running a PB 1:09:07 for 2nd and Ellie Pashley and Izzi Batt-Doyle 3rd and 4th in 1:09:25 and 1:09:45. New Zealand's Camille French also made it under the 1:10 mark with a PB 1:09:58 for 5th. Olympic marathon trials winner Chiharu Ikeda was the top Japanese woman at 6th in a PB 1:10:12, with Kaede Kawamura and Misaki Hayashida 7th and 8th in 1:10:22 and 1:11:35.

The men's race played out almost 100% according to script, with 1:00:33 man Keijiro Mogi leading the first 16 km and Australian NR holder Brett Robinson sitting on his shoulder before kicking away with 5 km to go to win. Mogi had said pre-race that he planned to go for the 1:01:16 CR, but with no help from anyone else the pace stayed closer to just sub-63. Mogi made a series of small surges to kill off weaker competition, but Robinson, New Zealand's Cameron Avery and Chuo University's Jin Yuasa stayed in the picture until late.

A move from Mogi after the second turnaround dropped Yuasa and Avery, leaving only Robinson until the big move came at 16 km. Mogi did what he could to hang on, but Robinson had the advantage with a sub-60 PB and low energy expenditure up to that point. He pulled away for the repeat win in 1:02:16, Mogi closing hard but out of range and 2nd in 1:02:20. Avery had the race of his life, taking 2 1/2 minutes off his best with a 1:02:50 PB for 3rd. Yuasa was 4th in 1:03:19, with Chuo teammate Kazusa Takanuma 7th in 1:04:04.

ASICS Half Marathon

Gold Coast, Australia, 1 July 2023

Women
1. Keira D'Amato (U.S.A.) - 1:06:39 - NR, ACR
2. Leanne Pompeani (Australia) - 1:09:07 - PB
3. Ellie Pashley (Australia) - 1:09:25
4. Izzi Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:09:45
5. Camille French (New Zealand) - 1:09:58
6. Chiharu Ikeda (Hitachi) - 1:10:12 - PB
7. Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:10:22
8. Misaki Hayashida (Kyudenko) - 1:11:35
9. Sarah Klein (Australia) - 1:11:36 - PB
10. Gemma Maini (Australia) - 1:13:50 - debut
-----
18. Yuki Nakamura (Panasonic) - 1:16:21

Men
1. Brett Robinson (Australia) - 1:02:16
2. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:20
3. Cameron Avery (New Zealand) - 1:02:50 - PB
4. Jin Yuasa (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:19
5. Ryan Gregson (Australia) - 1:03:40 - PB
6. Seth O'Donnell (Australia) - 1:03:40 - PB
7. Kazusa Takanuma (Chuo Univ.) - 1:04:04
8. Oska Inkster-Baynes (New Zealand) - 1:04:34 - PB
9. Christopher Dryden (New Zealand) - 1:04:36 - PB
10. James Nipperness (Australia) - 1:04:40 - debut

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more