Britain’s Mara Yamauchi wins the 2008 Osaka Ladies Marathon (© Kazutaka Eguchi/Agence SHOT)
Mara Yamauchi, who won the Osaka Ladies Marathon with a personal best of 2:25:10 in January, won the 29th Matsue Ladies Half Marathon with 1:09:59 on Sunday.
“I was not sure what kind of race it will be, so I just ran as I felt. I am happy to win, and would like to thank fans who cheered me along the course,” said Yamauchi after the race.
Last year, Mara ran three half marathons (Matsue Ladies half marathon in March, Sapporo Half Marathon in July, and Okayama Women’s half marathon in December) in Japan, and although she ran all of them under 70 minutes, she finished second each time. Yamauchi finally won a half marathon in Japan.
Two young and upcoming runners – Rie Takayoshi and Hitomi Niiya – finished second and third, respectively. Takayoshi, a team-mate of Olympic marathon runner Reiko Tosa, is coached by Hideo Suzuki, while Niiya is coached by Yoshio Koide, legendary coach, who guided Naoko Takahashi to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics.
How the race unfolded:
Yamauchi led four runners (Hitomi Niiya, Rie Takayoshi, Ikuyo Yamashita and Remi Nakazato) through the first kilometre in 3:18. However, such configuration did not last very long, for Yamauchi is a class of the field. Thus as expected, she slowly pulled away from the leading group before 3km and soon after 3km she was all alone in front.
She passed 5km in 16:12, thirteen seconds ahead of the chase pack. Although she gradually slowed down, covering 5 to 10km in 16:36, 10 to 15km in 16:47 and 15 to 20km in 16:51, Yamauchi was never challenged.
By 10km, she was 37 seconds ahead of second place. She finished in 1:09:59, fifty seconds ahead of the second place. The winning time was thirty-four seconds short of the course record set by Chitose Osaki last year.
The battle for the runner-up position was settled soon after 10km. After a group of runners passed 10km in 33:25, Takayoshi pulled away from the chase pack and soon she was alone in second place. She even closed a gap between her and Yamauchi between 10 and 13km. By 15km Takayoshi, who was 30 seconds behind Yamauchi, was 26 seconds ahead of Niiya in third. Takayoshi, a half marathon debutante, continued to pull away from Niiya and finished in 1:10:49, while Niiya was third in 1:11:41.
Although Niiya ran the 2007 Tokyo Marathon, Matsue was her first official half marathon.
Ikuko Mizuguchi of Mie University, who placed ninth overall in 1:13:27, was the first collegiate runner in the race, and thus declared as the winner of the 11th annual JPN Collegiate Women’s Half Marathon Whampionships, which was conducted concurrently.
The 10km race and a jogging clinic were also held concurrently. The Olympic marathon team member Reiko Tosa took part in both events. She completed the 10km as a special guest runner in 33:30.
Ken Nakamura assisted by Akihiro Onishi for the IAAF
Weather: Cloudy; temperature: 14.3C; humidity 63%; wind 4.2m/s West
Results (JPN unless otherwise noted)
1) Mara Yamauchi (GBR) 1:09:59 (16:12, 32:48, 49:35, 1:06:26)
2) Rie Takayoshi 1:10:49 (16:25, 33:25, 50:05, 1:07:11)
3) Hitomi Niiya 1:11:41 (16:25, 33:25, 50:31, 1:08:03)
4) Ikuyo Yamashita 1:11:54 (16:25, 33:25, 50:39, 1:08:08)
5) Rie Matsumoto 1:12:08 (16:52, 33:58, 51:10, 1:08:26)
6) Shino Saito 1:12:15 (16:53, 33:58, 51:10, 1:08:35)
7) Remi Nakazato 1:12:21 (16:25, 33:25, 50:44, 1:08:35)
8) Makiko Miyahara 1:13:00
9) Ikuko Mizuguchi 1:13:27 (winner of 11th JPN Collegiate women’s half marathon)
10) Hitomi Nakamura 1:13:50
