Yumiko Hara wins 2005 Nagoya International Women's Marathon. (© Kazutaka Eguchi - Agence SHOT)
Despite suffering a sidestitch during a crucial point of the race, Yumiko Hara, a marathon debutante, broke away from Megumi Oshima with 3.8Km to go to win the 2005 Nagoya International Women’s Marathon, Nagoya, Japan, in 2:24:19, today.
Hara’s performance was the third fastest winning (and overall) time in Nagoya race history, behind only Naoko Takahashi’s 2:22:19 and Reiko Tosa’s 2:23:57, and automatically qualified her (first Japanese in the race with the sub 2:26 clocking) for the 2005 World Championships Marathon team.
Finishing in second place for second time in two years, just six seconds behind Hara (2:24:25), was Megumi Oshima (formerly Tanaka), who improved her marathon personal best by 22 seconds. Finishing third with over a four-minute improvement on her personal best was Ryoko Eda (formerly Kitajima) in 2:24:54. Finishing fourth with 2:25:21 was Yasuko Hashimoto who also improved her personal best.
Disappointing Shibui
While the top six runners set personal bests (three of them are marathon debutante), Yoko Shibui, a huge pre-race favourite, suffering from sinus problems was back in seventh place, nearly 8 minutes slower than her own national record. Another contender for the World marathon team Takami Ominami, with an earlier disclosed left knee injury finished eighth.
How the race developed…
The race started quite fast, and the lead pack was nearly immediately reduced down to a small group of just 14 runners who passed 5Km in 16:49. By 10Km (33:47) the lead pack was down to 12 runners, while by 15Km (50:49) one of the pacemakers Joseph of Tanzania dropped out. The pace started to slacken with the leaders passing the 20Km in 1:08:01 (5Km from 15Km to 20Km took 17:12) and with Irina Timofeyeva out of contention the group was now just ten. Lidia Grigoryeva, an official pacesetter still led at 25Km (1:25:26) with Takako Kotorida and Ominami trailing at the pack of the leaders.
Once Grigoryeva left the race, it was Shibui who started to push the pace, and as a result both Kotorida and Ominami are completely lost contact, so that at 30Km (1:43:12) seven runners – Shibui, Yumiko Hara, Ryoko Eda, Megumi Oshima, Kiyomi Ogawa, Chieko Yamasaki, and Yasuko Hashimoto – were still left in the lead pack.
The pace picked up again and one kilometre later Yamasaki was the first casualty. Then on the uphill part of the course, 31.5Km into the race, Hara and Eda made a strong surge to break the race open, and by 33Km Oshima was in trouble, but she was determined not to lose contact. Five-hundred metres later, Shibui and Ogawa also start to fall behind, followed by Hashimoto.
At 35Km (2:00:40), Eda and Hara led Oshima and Hashimoto by three seconds, and Shibui was another nine seconds behind but Oshima was not finished yet. She worked her way back and by 36Km she caught up with Hara and Eda, and a kilometre later, it was Eda who started to fall behind. With the final surge Hara passed Oshima with 3.8Km to go, and went on to finish unopposed in 2:24:19, with Oshima, second in 2:24:25, and Ryoko Eda, third in 2:24:54.
“My coach told me to go at 35Km if I was feeling good, but because I was suffering from the side-stitch I stayed behind for a little longer. I tried not to show the effect of stitch to the other runners,” said Hara in the post-race interview. “From my training I could not tell how fast I could run, but I was training hard with a sub 2:26 marathon in mind, so I was very determined to realise it. Because I am from Tochigi-prefecture, same as Ms. Shibui, I was always dreaming of defeating her, but I am very surprised to see my dream come to reality today,” concluded Hara.
Japanese team selection
Since only two runners – Mari Ozaki and Yumiko Hara – have automatically qualified for the World Championships Marathon team, both Oshima and Eda, second and third here have very good chance of making the marathon team also, for three more spots are left on the team. Fourth placer Hashimoto will probably have to fight it out for the final team spot with Kiyoko Shimahara, who was the first Japanese in the Tokyo Women’s Marathon with 2:26:43 and Harumi Hiroyama, who was the second Japanese in the Osaka Ladies marathon with 2:25:56.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
With assistance from Akihiro Onishi and Tatsuo Terada
Weather: Sunny, temperature 8.8C, humidity 60%, wind 1.9m/s
Results:
1. Yumiko Hara 2:24:19
2. Megumi Oshima 2:24:25
3. Ryoko Eda 2:24:54
4. Yasuko Hashimoto 2:25:21
5. Kiyomi Ogawa 2:26:02
6. Chieko Yamasaki 2:27:22
7. Yoko Shibui 2:27:40
8. Takami Ominami 2:31:16
9. Kaoru Nishi 2:32:39
10. Monika Drybulska (POL) 2:33:14
11. Miwako Ueki 2:33:31
12. Ayumi Hayashi 2:33:37
13. Yumiko Okamoto 2:33:47
14. Jackie Fairweather (AUS) 2:34:10
Splits:
5Km 16:49 Grigoryeva
10Km 33:47 (16:58) Grigoryeva
15Km 50:49 (17:02) Grigoryeva
20Km 1:08:01 (17:12) Grigoryeva
25Km 1:25:26 (17:25) Grigoryeva
30Km 1:43:12 (17:46) Shibui
35Km 2:00:04 (16:52) Eda
40Km 2:17:01 (16:57) Hara
Finish 2:24:19 (7:18) Hara
