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Scheduled for September 27, the Ichinoseki International Half Marathon in Ichinoseki, Iwate has been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. With a formal announcement of its cancelation issued by race organizers, this marks the first time in the Ichinoseki Half's history that the event has been canceled. Founded in 1982, the Ichinoseki Half attracts top corporate league runners, university men targeting the Hakone Ekiden, and amateurs, with participation numbers rising in recent years to more than 3,000 people from across the country. But as the only one of Japan's 47 prefectures without a single recorded case of coronavirus infection, concerns are high in Iwate about the risk of the virus being brought in and spread by use of public transportation, concerns that were a part of the decision to cancel the race. Entry fees will be returned to those who have already entered. In addition, the second running of October's Iwate Morioka City Marathon is likely to ...

The 36th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon took place Sept. 17 in Ichinoseki, Iwate. 25-year-old Joseph Onsarigo (Nasu Kensetsu) won the men's race in 1:04:34, with Kanae Shimoyama (Noritz) winning the women's race in 1:16:10, both of them taking the top position for the first time. A total of 2824 people started in the half marathon, 10 km and 5 km divisions, with 2652 finishing. The men's race developed into a battle between two natives of Kenya, with Onsarigo having what it took to prevail as the overall winner. Invited athlete Cyrus Njui (Cebu Sports) took the early lead. Surging at the 6 km turnaround point at Hiraizumi, he turned the race into a one-on-one duel. Around 12 km near Ruinohashi Onsarigo thought to himself, "Let's break away all at once," and surged, but Njui was able to answer and stayed in contact. The pair continued to test each other, looking for an opportunity. The key to the win came on the uphills late in the race. Last ...

http://news.ibc.co.jp/item_18091.html http://www.47news.jp/sports/localsports/2012/09/2_74.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Once again the streets of Ichinoseki were host to an international half marathon, the 31st running of the Ichinoseki Half Marathon.  A record 2313 runners including professional corporate league athletes and invited runners from abroad took part.  Due to ongoing reconstruction work within the city from last year's disasters this year's race featured a new course starting and ending at the Ichinoseki Civic Gymnasium.  Course record holder Mekubo Mogusu  (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) was the overall winner in the half marathon, running 1:02:15.   Eri Hayakawa  (Team Toto) won the women's race in 1:14:12, with her teammate Noriko Nakamura  (Team Toto) taking the women's 10 km in 34:48. Highlights of the race will be broadcast on IBC starting at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 7.

http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/cgi-bin/topnews.cgi?20080929_P http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/sports/2008sports/m09/spo0809291.html tra nslated and edited by Brett Larner The 27th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon took place Sept. 28 in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, starting outside Ichinoseki city hall and covering a 21.0975 km course. Komazawa University senior Yukinori Ota won the men's race in 1:04:26 after breaking from the lead pack with 4 km to go in the race. Komazawa alumnus Akira Fujii, now of Team Aisan, was 2nd in 1:04:52. Kyoko Fukunaga of Amino Vital AC won the women's race in 1:17:15. Leading a pack of four at the 16 km mark, Fujii launched a spurt to break away. Ota commented afterwards that at this point he had thought, "If I fall behind now it's over." He picked up his pace in response to Fujii's move, increasing from 3 min/km to 2:50/km and taking the lead at 17 km. Fujii could not match his speed and finished 26 seconds behind. Ota, who anchored...

http://www.runnet.jp/result/detail.php?ses_competition_id=4576 written by Brett Larner Kenyan Mekubo Mogus, a third-year student at Yamanashi Gakuin University, won the 26th Ichinoseki International Half-Marathon on Sept. 23, 2007 in 59:58. This was Mogus` third sub-1 hour half-marathon of 2007.