Skip to main content

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

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...