Tadese Over Mathathi for Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon CR; Tufa Gets Women's CR in Close Race With Kirwa
by Brett Larner video by Nick Ramsay World record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) took down defending champion Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) at Sunday's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , getting away early to set a new course record of 1:00:31. Leading a pack of six through a 14:14 opening 5 km split, Tadese dropped a 14:04 over the next 5 km to take the race out of the competition's comfort zones and go ahead alone. With a 37-second lead over the chase group of Mathathi, Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) and Cyrus Njui (Kenya/ Team Hitachi Butsuryu) at 15 km Tadese backed off to a 14:34 split from 15 to 20 km, but despite Mathathi and Wanjuki picking it up and closing the gap they were too far away and had to settle for a duel for 2nd, Mathathi proving the stronger as he crossed the line in 1:00:54, two seconds ahead of Wanjuki. Moscow World Championships marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), running just a week after g...