by Brett Larner Bringing in a broadly international field of elite athletes from nine countries in a bid for recognition as an IAAF bronze label race, the Mar. 2 New Taipei City Wanjinshi International Marathon was rewarded with new course records in both the men's and women's races despite unforgiving weather. Men's winner Hassane Ahouchar. With strong headwinds and rain in the first half of the seaside out-and-back course, the men's lead pack went through a leisurely first half just over 1:11 before rounding the turnaround point and turning it on to take advantage of the tailwind. The men with the two fastest PBs in the field, Gudisa Shentema (Ethiopia) and Hassane Ahouchar (Morocco), burned off Kenyans Wilson Kibet and Geoffrey Birgen and North Korea's Yong Ho Ri to make it a duel. Shentema led by a stride on the final uphill to the finish but Ahouchar's kick proved too strong as he took the win in 2:17:17, almost two minutes better than...
the world's window into elite japanese distance running, since 2007