Omare Breaks Marugame Half CR by >1 Minute, Etir Takes Collegiate Record

Japan-based Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) had the best race of her career, breaking 1:04:36 runner Sheila Chepkirui (Kenya) over the second half of the race to win the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon in 1:06:07, 1:15 under the old course record and a PB by a massive 1:49. Omare was actually on mid-1:05 pace at 15 km as she fought to open ground on the more accomplished Chepkirui, but even though she faded over the last 5 km she still had more than enough room to pick up the ¥3,000,000 CR bonus.

Chepkirui was well under the old record too at 1:06:47 for 2nd, and in the other big performance of the women's race Caroline Kariba of 2023 National High School Ekiden champ Kamimura Gakuen H.S. skipped a 10000 m or 10 km debut to jump straight to the half marathon, 14 seconds off the old CR in 1:07:36 for 3rd. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) took 4th in a PB 1:08:02, with Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) beating her pre-race projection with a 1:08:51 for 5th in a tuneup for next month's Nagoya Women's Marathon.

The men's race started relatively slowly, but by 10 km it was on sub-hour pace with a big pack including last year's winner Alexander Mutiso (ND Software), collegiate 5000 and 10000 m NR holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.), Hakone Ekiden First Stage winner and last year's top Japanese man Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.), past Fukuoka International Marathon winner Sondre Nordstad Moen (Norway) and more.

Mutiso and Etir pushed the pace over the second half to pull away, and in the last straight onto the track finish Etir surged for the win, taking 16 seconds off Mekubo Mogusu's 2007-era collegiate record to win in 59:32 and pick up a ¥1,000,000 bonus. Mutiso was next in 59:37, with Etir's teammate Amos Bett beating Moen for 3rd, both clocking 1:00:11. Shinohara was well off his target of Japan's first sub-60 clocking at 1:01:04, but that was still good enough to take the top Japanese spot again this year at 8th overall.

76th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon

Marugame, Kagawa, 4 Feb. 2024

Women

1. Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (Kenya/U.S.E.) - 1:06:07 - CR, PB

2. Sheila Chepkirui (Kenya) - 1:06:47 (CR)

3. Caroline Kariba (Kenya/Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 1:07:36 - debut

4. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:08:02 - PB

5. Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) - 1:08:51

6. Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) - 1:09:24

7. Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic) - 1:10:06 - debut

8. Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) - 1:11:22

9. Hikari Onishi (Japan Post) - 1:12:38

10. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:12:56

11. Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) - 1:13:10 - debut

12. Nana Sato (Starts) - 1:14:07

13. Saki Harada (Meijo Univ.) - 1:14:48

14. Haruru Asahi (Uniqlo) - 1:15:35 - debut

15. Ai Onuma (Josai Kokusai Univ.) - 1:16:30

Men

1. Richard Etir (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 59:32 - Univ. NR

2. Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 59:37

3. Amos Bett (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:00:11 - debut

4. Sondre Nordstad Moen (Norway) - 1:00:11

5. Joseph Razini Lemeteki (Kenya/Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:30

6. David Shunqeya Neiyiai (Kenya/Reitaku Univ.) - 1:00:32 - PB

7. Cleophas Kandie Meyan (Kenya/Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:00:55

8. Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:04

9. Koki Asai (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:01:09 - PB

10. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) - 1:01:11 - PB

11. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 1:01:13 - PB

12. Tatsuya Maruyama (Toyota) - 1:01:13 - PB

13. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:01:13

14. Aoi Ito (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:16 - PB

15. Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:22 - PB

16. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:25

17. Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:26 - PB

18. Eikichi Kazaoka (JFE Steel) - 1:01:26 - PB

19. Brett Robinson (Australia) - 1:01:27

20. Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:28 - PB

21. Joseph Muigai (Kenya/Heisei Kokusai Univ.) - 1:01:29 - PB

22. Dejen Tesfalem (Eritrea/Seisa Univ.) - 1:01:38 - PB

23. Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:39 - PB

24. Taiga Tosen (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:01:40 - PB

25. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:41 - PB

26. Renato Ogata (Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:42 - debut

27. Kento Otsu (Sunbelx) - 1:01:43 - PB

28. Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 1:01:43 - PB

29. Masashi Nonaka (Toyota) - 1:01:43

30. Rei Yonemitsu (Konica Minolta) - 1:01:45 - PB

31. Kenshin Ebisawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:01:49 - PB

32. Adam Clarke (Great Britain) - 1:01:54 - PB

33. Shuma Yamanaka (Josai Univ.) - 1:01:54 - PB

34. Shota Shiode (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:54 - PB

35. Chiyo Nishikawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:01:55 - PB

36. Shinichiro Nakamura (Kyudenko) - 1:01:57 - PB

37. Ryo Yoshida (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:58 - PB

38. Tim Vincent (Australia) - 1:02:01

39. Hiroto Hayashida (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:02:04

40. Koya Suzuki (Reitaku Univ.) - 1:02:06 - PB

41. Yudai Katakawa (Asia Univ.) - 1:02:06 - PB

42. Hiroto Kuniyasu (Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:02:07 - PB

43. Hiro Konda (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:08 - PB

44. Kyohei Oda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:02:09 - PB

45. Ren Yamaguchi (Nittai Univ.) - 1:02:10 - PB

46. Atsushi Utsuno (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:02:12 - PB

47. Tomoya Kitamura (OBRS) - 1:02:13 - PB

48. Ryoma Inoue (Biwako Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:14

49. Sota Morikawa (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 1:02:14 - PB

50. Seia Hotta (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:14 - PB

-----

75. Shura Shiino (Fujitsu) - 1:02:58

100. Haruto Kubo (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:03:37 - PB

Osako Breaks Marathon NR for 3rd Time - Weekend Roundup

It looked like it was going to be a big weekend, and it delivered. For the 3rd time in his career Suguru Osako broke the men's marathon NR, running 1 second under the standing record to take 4th in the Valencia Marathon in 2:04:55. All the way to 40 km he was steady on 2:58/km, 2:05:10 pace, and like a surprising number of other people in both the men's and women's races, there was a massive jump over the last 2.195 km from his projected finish time to his actual one. His run put Osako back on top of the Japanese charts, put the average of Japan's 10 fastest marathon times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, and got him into the L.A. Olympics marathon trials. Valencia has been trying to get top-tier Japanese athletes to come for years, and now that they finally managed to do it it paid off in a big way. Expect more next year. Back home, former Takushoku University captain Derese Workneh won a 3-way race against Toyota teammates Kazuya Nishiyama and Bedan Ka...

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