30 AUGUST 2009: HOKKAIDO MARATHON, JAPAN

Running away from their competitors just 10km into the race, Daniel Njenga and Kiyoko Shimahara won their respective races writes Ken Nakamura.

Laban Kagika broke away from the lead pack after 7km, but just 1500m later was absorbed back into the chase pack. Nearing 10km defending champion Masaru Takamizawa led but Njenga then moved into front and began to push the pace. He covered the next 2km in 2:52 and 2:54, and continued to run under three minutes pace so that by 13.5km he was clear of the others.

By 20km Njenga led a chase pack of three (Tagami, Seiji Kobayashi, Kagika) by 31 seconds. By 25km his lead had decreased by four seconds but it held steady during the crucial stage of the race. At 30km Kagika was 28 seconds behind Njenga, who was now showing signs of discomfort although he kept his lead steady. Approaching 40km marathon debutante Ryo Yamamoto moved up alongside Kagika, 37 seconds behind Njenga. The gap then started to close rapidly but Njenga held on to win, followed by Yamamoto seven seconds behind him.

Shimahara led almost from the start, followed by Akemi Ozaki, a sister of the World Championships silver medallist, Yoshimi Ozaki, with Kaori Yoshida running third. Shimahara passed 5km in 16:54, and 10km in 33:28. Around 12km she broken away from Ozaki.

By 20km, Shimahara was 43 seconds ahead, and although she started to slow her position at the front was never threatened. She reached the line in a course record time of 2:25:10, bettering the Masako Chiba's 2005 mark of 2:25:46.

More than 8000 runners started the race at 12:10 pm in Sapporo, a city of 1.9 million on the northern island of Hokkaido. The Hokkaido Marathon is one of the few races in Japan in which both elites and non-elites, men and women, all run together in a single race.

Source: AIMS.org

MEN:
1  Daniel NJENGA                  KEN  2:12:03
2  Ryo YAMAMOTO                JPN  2:12:10
3  Laban KAGIKA                   JPN  2:12:24
4  Masaru TAKAMIZAWA         JPN  2:13:05
5  Seiji KOBAYASHI                JPN  2:13:27 
6  Chiharu TAKADA                 JPN  2:14:34
7  Shingo SATO                     JPN  2:14:35  
8  Isamu SUEYOSHI                JPN  2:14:37

WOMEN:
1  Kiyoko SHIMIHARA               JPN  2:25:10
2  Akemi OZAKI                       JPN  2:27:23
3  Satoko UETANI                     JPN  2:33:55
4  Nami TANI                            JPN  2:33:59
5  Misuzu OKAMOTO                 JPN  2:34:12
6  Chinami FUKAMINATO            JPN  2:34:16
7  Mizuho NASUKAWA                JPN  2:34:17
8  Chihiro TANAKA                     JPN  2:35:15
9  Nozomi IIJIMA                      JPN  2:36:46
10 Aki FUJIKAWA                      JPN  2:37:25