Yuya Yoshida winning Fukuoka in CR time was a great story, and here's another one. Kana Kobayashi didn't run track or ekidens in junior high, high school, or at Waseda University and just ran for fun, but after a 2:36:54 debut at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon and a 2:29:44 PB there this year she got an offer from the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. After a good championship ekiden season she ran today's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon , and with a 5-minute PB she won in a CR 2:24:59. It was an impressively even effort, 1:12:13 through halfway and breaking competition that included 2:22:29 runner Mao Uesugi and 2:23:05 runner Natsumi Matsushita . Her final margin of victory over Matsushita was almost 3 1/2 minutes, with Uesugi another 4 1/2 minutes further back. It's not quite the top level of the sport in Japan, but it for sure puts Kobayashi near the top of the list of rising talent. The men's race went through halfway on CR pace, with last ye...
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