February 2016
7 FEB | 12 FEB | 13 FEB | 14 FEB | 21 FEB | 26 FEB | 28 FEB
7 FEBRUARY 2016: BEPPU-OITA MAINICHI MARATHON, JAPAN
MEN (only): 1 Melaku ABERA ETH 2:09:27 2 Anthony MARITIM KEN 2:11:17 3 Shume HAILU ETH 2:11:41 4 Kazuya ISHIDA JPN 2:12:25 5 Myeong Jun SON KOR 2:12:34 6 Kenichi SHIRAISHI JPN 2:13:07 7 Ihor OLEFIRENKO UKR 2:13:33 8 Yuki MUNAKATA JPN 2:13:53 9 Keisuke KUSAKA JPN 2:14:11 10 Shogo KANEZANE JPN 2:14:15
7 FEBRUARY 2016: LA MITJA MARATO GRANOLLERS, SPAIN
MEN: 1 Alex KORIO KEN 1:01:01 2 Enmanuel BOR KEN 1:01:04 3 Edwin Kipsang ROTICH KEN 1:01:10 4 Matthew Kipkoech KISORIO KEN 1:01:33 5 Vincent YATOR KEN 1:01:40 6 Moses Kipkosgei BOWEN KEN 1:04:32 7 Deninis KIMETTO KEN 1:04:52 8 Omar OUCHZIF ESP 1:04:58 9 Ivan FERNANDEZ ESP 1:05:13 10 Roman ROMANENKO UKR 1:05:42 WOMEN: 1 Nancy Jepkosgei KIPROP KEN 1:11:30 2 Olha KOTOVSKA UKR 1:13:35 3 Hasna BAHOM ESP 1:17:11 4 Jelena ABELE LAT 1:17:26 5 Andrea SZEDERKENYI-TAKACS HUN 1:19:08 6 Monika RAUSCH GER 1:19:29 7 Ouaffa HANANNI ESP 1:21:05 8 Laura Sanzberro SOLANA ESP 1:22:27 9 Enka Viñas SERRANO ESP 1:23:35 10 Sílvia Segura PARRA ESP 1:25:54 10km MEN: 1 Arturo Casado ESP 32:58 2 Marc FENWICK GBR 32:59 3 Alberto Viera MARMOL ESP 35:24 WOMEN: 1 Nidia Zurma Borget RUIDIAZ ESP 40:30 2 Montserrat Rovira SOTO ESP 40:38 3 Anabel Gracia GARASA ESP 42:04
7 FEBRUARY 2015: KAGAWA-MARUGAME HALF MARATHON, JAPAN
Eleven runners, including eventual winner Goitom Kifle, Kenya's Dominic Nyairo, Tanzania's Fabiano Sulle and Japan's Keijiro Mogi reached 10km in 28:50 writes Ken Nakamura. By 15km (43:05) four remained: Kifle, Sulle, Nyairo and Mogi. Sulle gradually fell off the pace and at 20km Kifle led Mogi and Nyairo by four seconds. The Eritrean held on for the win by just one second ahead of Nyairo. Technically speaking, 18-year-old Nyairo was making his half-marathon debut but the Japan-based Kenyan ran the 23.1km stage at last month's Hakone Ekiden in 1:07:20 (1:01:30 half marathon pace). Mogi's best had been a modest 1:03:11 but the 20-year-old reduced that to 1:00:54 to move to sixth on the Japanese all-time list.
World marathon bronze medallist Eunice Kirwa ran aggressively in the women's race, reaching 10km in 31:51 at which point she led over Diane Nukuri by 32 seconds and was on course-record pace. With no one to push her Kirwa could not maintain her momentum but finished with a 400m winning margin and a personal best time. Despite setting a PB and running more than a minute quicker than her winning time from last year Eloise Wellings' performance placed her only third.
MEN: 1 Goitom KIFLE ERI 1:00:49 2 Dominic NYAIRO KEN 1:00:50 3 Keijiro MOGI JPN 1:00:54 4 Fabiano SULLE TAN 1:01:19 5 Keisuke NAKATANI JPN 1:01:21 6 Naoki KUDO JPN 1:01:25 7 Shuho DAIROKUNO JPN 1:01:32 8 Taku FUJIMOTO JPN 1:01:51 9 Keita SHITARA JPN 1:01:54 10 Kaoru HIROSUE JPN 1:01:58 WOMEN: 1 Eunice KIRWA BRN 1:08:06 2 Diane NUKURI BDI 1:09:23 3 Eloise WELLINGS AUS 1:09:29 4 Yuka ANDO JPN 1:10:10 5 Rei OHARA JPN 1:10:42 6 Kotomi TAKAYAMA JPN 1:11:14 7 Akane SEKINO JPN 1:11:17 8 Moeno NAKAMURA JPN 1:11:33 9 Yomogi AKASAKA JPN 1:11:41 10 Mami ONUKI JPN 1:12:03
7 FEBRUARY 2016: MOSTRE D'OLTREMARE HALF MARATHON, ITALY
The third edition — organized by the ASD RuNaples in cooperation with municipality of Napoli and the Institute Mostra d'Oltremare — enjoyed record attendance with 2736 runners representing 26 countries.
The Mayor of Naples flagged the race off on a sunny and mild morning. Runners went along the sea front with the Castel dell'Ovo and through the main streets of the historical centre until returning to Fuorigrotta and finishing in the Mostra d'Oltremare Park by the the Fontana dell'Esedra.
MEN: 1 Daniele D'ONOFRIO ITA 1:06:21 2 Abdelkebir LAMACHI ITA 1:06:40 3 Gilio IANNONE ITA 1:08:29 4 Paolo CIAPPA ITA 1:08:44 5 Hamid KADIRI HAMID ITA 1:08:51 6 Hajjaj EL JEBLI MAR 1:09:10 7 Antonello LANDI ITA 1:09:19 8 Giuseppe SOPRANO ITA 1:09:53 9 Giorgio Mario NIGRO ITA 1:10:31 10 Marek HADAM POL 1:12:14 WOMEN: 1 Malika BENLAFKIR ITA 1:17:48 2 Loredana BRUSCIANO ITA 1:24:16 3 Fabiola DESIDERIO ITA 1:26:21 4 Annamaria CASO ITA 1:27:27 5 Carmela FEBBRAIO ITA 1:27:37 6 Anna DAVINO ITA 1:29:03 7 Antonietta D'ORSI ITA 1:29:21 8 Martina AMODIO ITA 1:29:27 9 Rosa CUSELLO ITA 1:31:06 10 Bruna SANTELIA ITA 1:31:13
12 FEBRUARY 2016: RAS AL KHAIMAH HALF MARATHON, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Cynthia Limo moved up to third on the world all-time list for the half marathon, behind Florence Kiplagat and Mary Keitany, with this victory writes Rob Walker. She was to the fore throughout: within a group of seven up to 15km (passing 10km in 31:32) which reduced to just her and world Half Marathon champion Gladys Cherono by 20km (1:02:48). Limo broke away over the last 800m to claim a narrow but confident win.
Of the first six finishers — all under 67 minutes — five set personal bests with Limo taking 37 seconds off her time and Cherono 31 seconds off hers with the dubious bonus of posting the fastest ever non-winning performance. Genet Yalew set an Ethiopian record in third having lost contact with the two Kenyans around 19km.
The men's pace was sluggish by comparison until the final kilometre when in a thrilling finish four athletes raced to the line within a single second of each other. Birhanu Legese once again proved his finishing power by just holding off Kenya's Stanley Biwott with both on the same time. A large group had gone through 10km in 29.11 and eight runners were together at 15km (43:28); seven of them remained at the start of the finishing sprint.
MEN: 1 Birhanu LEGESE ETH 1:00:40 2 Stanley BIWOTT KEN 1:00:40 3 Nguse AMSOLOM ERI 1:00:41 4 Abraham CHEROBEN KEN 1:00:41 5 Edwin KIPYEGO KEN 1:00:45 6 Simon CHEPROT KEN 1:00:46 7 Edwin KIPTOO KEN 1:01:00 8 Cosmas BIRECH KEN 1:01:49 9 Emmanuel BETT KEN 1:01:55 10 Leonard KOMEN KEN 1:02:12 WOMEN: 1 Cynthia LIMO KEN 1:06:04 2 Gladys CHERONO KEN 1:06:07 3 Genet YALEW ETH 1:06:26 4 Peres JEPCHIRCHIR KEN 1:06:39 5 Gladys CHESIR KEN 1:06:57 6 Jemima JELEGAT KEN 1:06:58 7 Worknesh DEGEFA ETH 1:07:32 8 Priscah JEPTOO KEN 1:08:04 9 Rose CHELIMO KEN 1:08:08 10 Gulume Tollesa CHALA ETH 1:08:40
13 FEBRUARY 2016: AL AMERAT CHALLENGE 9km, OMAN
Moroccans took top honours in both men's and women's categories in this "Challenge" which involves 4.5km of steeply uphill twisting highway and the subsequent descent. 588 runners completed in the three different race categories.
The men's race attracted 416 runners from across the world. Sameer Al Jawareh pushed defending champion Abdullah Al Joud into second place. The women's category attracted 22 runners. 150 runners of various nationalities took part in the 1.8km fun run.
Race organiser Ahmed Al Kindi said: "This year we had a good number of international and national athletes competing."
MEN: 1 Sameer AL JAWERAH MAR 30:37 2 Abdullah AL-JOUD KSA 31:08 3 Abdulrazaq AR AR MAR 33:58 4 Mohammed AL HADAD MAR 34:28 WOMEN: 1 Ameena MAHEEH MAR 40:29 2 Asta PARKER ISL 42:07 3 Anna CHRISTIE USA 50:06 4 Maggie MULLER RSA 50:06
13 FEBRUARY 2016: 27km FOR FREEDOM, SOUTH AFRICA
MEN: 1 Siviwe NKOMBI RSA 1:32:53 2 Danzil PAULSE RSA 1:34:06 3 Tsungai MWANENGENI RSA 1:37:37 4 Ncedo MAKUNGA RSA 1:40:29 5 Mervin STEENKAMP RSA 1:40:51 6 Sityhilo DIKO RSA 1:43:43 7 David GOUWS RSA 1:43:48 8 Dumisani DOSI RSA 1:44:10 9 Andile MLANDU RSA 1:49:58 10 Abraham FIELIES RSA 1:50:18 WOMEN: 1 Candyce HALL RSA 2:01:49 2 Obertina KANYONGO RSA 2:05:55 3 Linda KINLOCH-SMITH RSA 2:06:05 4 Angelique RABIE RSA 2:07:41 5 Elizabth BRINK RSA 2:07:58 6 Sarah MURLESS RSA 2:09:10 7 Suzanne MARAIS RSA 2:10:22 8 Suzette VERMAAK MCIVOR RSA 2:13:26 9 Miranda DUDLEY RSA 2:14:24 10 Busi MATIWANE RSA 2:14:28 10km MEN: 1 Justin FRITZ RSA 30:38 2 Nadeel WILDSCHUTT RSA 30:55 3 Lukhanyo NOBAKADA RSA 32:15 WOMEN: 1 Zintle XINIWE RSA 37:02 2 Fortunate CHIDZIVO RSA 37:10 3 Nomvuyisi SETI RSA 40:26
14 FEBRUARY 2016: MITJA MARATO BARCELONA, SPAIN
MEN: 1 Vincent KIPRUTO KEN 1:02:54 2 Daniele MEUCCI ITA 1:02:55 3 Abdi FUFA MAR 1:02:57 4 Samwel KIBIWOT KEN 1:03:01 5 Josphat KIPRONO KEN 1:03:48 6 Valentin PFEIL 1:04:16 7 Julian FLÜGEL GER 1:04:17 8 Mustafa MOHAMED MAR 1:04:19 9 Filex CHEMONGES KEN 1:04:20 10 Christian KREIENBÜHL GER 1:04:21 WOMEN: 1 Florence KIPLAGAT KEN 1:09:19 2 Isabellah ANDERSSON SWE 1:10:50 3 Jessica AUGUSTO POR 1:10:58 4 Anja SCHNEIDER 1:11:17 5 Franziska RENG GER 1:12:33 6 Katharina HEINIG GER 1:12:55 7 Laila SOUFYANE MAR 1:13:01 8 Marta Esteban POVEDA ESP 1:13:16 9 Anna HAHNER GER 1:14:03 10 Marisa CASANUEVA ESP 1:14:20
14 FEBRUARY 2016: GIULIETTA & ROMEO HALF MARATHON, ITALY
MEN: 1 Bernard BETT KEN 1:03:01 2 Ishmael KALALE KEN 1:03:15 3 Mark KORIR KEN 1:03:41 4 Stefano LA ROSA ITA 1:04:10 5 Ahmed EL MAZOURY ITA 1:04:10 6 Omar GUERNICHE ITA 1:06:31 7 Giovanni GUALD ITA 1:06:51 8 Rene CUNEAZ ITA 1:07:23 9 Mitja KREVS SLO 1:08:10 10 Rodgers MAIYO KEN 1:08:37 WOMEN: 1 Mary Njoki WANJIKU KEN 1:12:27 2 Janey Cheruto MASAI KEN 1:16:01 3 Loah Jepchumba ROTICH KEN 1:16:12 4 Judit VARGA HUN 1:16:33 5 Federica PROIETTI ITA 1:17:08 6 Veronica PATERLINI ITA 1:20:17 7 Kristina LAPINOVA SVK 1:21:57 8 Denise CAVALLINI ITA 1:22:15 9 Chiara RENSO ITA 1:22:44 10 Anisleidy Cordero GARCIA CUB 1:23:43
21 FEBRUARY 2016: MEDIO MARATON DE GUADALAJARA, MEXICO
MEN: 1 Juan Luis BARRIOS MEX 1:04:13 2 Emmanuel MNANGAT KEN 1:04:41 3 JULIUS KIPYEGO KETER KEN 1:04:49 4 Stephen NJOROGE KEN 1:06:02 5 Eloy SANCHEZ MEX 1:06:26 6 Charles Kandie KOECH KEN 1:07:04 7 Alejandro SUAREZ MEX 1:07:17 8 Tomas Luna DOMINGUEZ MEX 1:07:47 9 Shadrack Kipkorir KIYAI KEN 1:08:45 10 Francisco BAUTISTA MEX 1:08:53 WOMEN: 1 Risper GESABWA KEN 1:13:16 2 Ogla KIMAIYO KEN 1:13:17 3 Margarita HERNANDEZ MEX 1:13:23 4 Viany DE LA ROSA MEX 1:13:24 5 Marisol Guadalupe ROMER MEX 1:13:30 6 Mayra SANCHEZ VIDAL MEX 1:15:28 7 Esmeralda REBOLLO MEX 1:15:41 8 Karina Lizette GARCIA MEX 1:17:45 9 Mitzari LOZANO MEX 1:17:46 10 Maria Elena VALENCIA MEX 1:18:11
21 FEBRUARY 2016: KYOTO MARATHON, JAPAN
MEN: 1 Daisuke UEKADO JPN 2:17:52 2 Kosuke MURASASHI JPN 2:24:51 3 Shunsuke HISAMOTO JPN 2:27:11 WOMEN: 1 Hisayo MATSUMOTO JPN 2:50:41 2 Nami OKADA JPN 3:01:23 3 Noriko YAMAGUCHI JPN 3:03:43
21 FEBRUARY 2016: KITAKYUSHU MARATHON, JAPAN
MEN: 1 Takeshi MAKABE JPN 2:23:04 2 Ken-ichi KAWANO JPN 2:23:11 3 Hayato IDEUE JPN 2:23:17 4 Tetsuo TOYONAGA JPN 2:24:44 WOMEN: 1 Miku KAKIMOTO JPN 2:49:20 2 Emiko TERASAWA JPN 3:06:09 3 Makiko MASUSHIGE JPN 3:07:13
21 FEBRUARY 2016: OHME-HOCHI 30km ROAD RACE JAPAN
MEN: 1 Yuki OSHIKAWA JPN 1:31:37 2 Michael GITHAE KEN 1:31:46 3 Yuki KAWAUCHI JPN 1:32:40 WOMEN: 1 Miharu SHIMOKADO JPN 1:43:55 2 Mirai WAKU JPN 1:43:57 3 Kotomi TAKAYAMA JPN 1:46:12
21 FEBRUARY 2016: SAN VALENTINO MARATHON, ITALY
MEN: 1 Jaouad ZAIN MAR 2:19:12 2 Abdelekrim KABBOURI MAR 2:32:10 3 Maurizio D'ANDREA ITA 2:40:08 4 Antonio BUCCI ITA 2:43:53 5 Marco BOFFO ITA 2:45:05 6 Roberto BELLINI ITA 2:46:22 7 Marco LOMBARDI ITA 2:46:39 8 Stefano MAGGI ITA 2:47:14 9 Giovanni PROIA ITA 2:47:18 10 Aleksei KUROCHKIN RUS 2:47:59 WOMEN: 1 Maria VRAJIC CRO 2:45:35 2 Paola ALVATORI ITA 2:55:27 3 Fabiola CARDARELLI ITA 2:59:49 4 Cristina Marilen IMBUCATURA ITA 3:24:24 5 Samantha GRAFFIEDI ITA 3:25:28 6 Angela LATORRE ITA 3:25:42 7 Elide DEL SINDACO ITA 3:26:34 8 Laura MARIANI ITA 3:26:54 9 Liubov SHATUNOVA RUS 3:30:46 10 Valentina SPANO ITA 3:36:20 HALF MARATHON MEN: 1 Paul TIONGIK KEN 1:06:54 2 Cherkaoui MAKHROUT MAR 1:09:13 3 Abderraffi ROQTI ITA 1:09:53 WOMEN: 1 Sarah Aimee L'EPEE ITA 1:24:52 2 Paola GARINEI ITA 1:25:03 3 Laura MOSCONI ITA 1:25:17
21 FEBRUARY 2016: ZURICH MARATON DE SEVILLA, SPAIN
Kenya's Cosmas Kiplimo Lagat regained the Zurich Maraton de Sevilla title he won on his marathon debut in 2014, improving his own course record by 19 seconds writes Emeterio Valiente. In 12–13°C and a very slight breeze a tio of pacemeakers ensure that the course record wasw under threwat from the start. Nine runners passed halfway in 1:03:36 but over the next 9km the lead group started to disintegrate. By 30km only Kiplimo Lagat along with his compatriots Shedreck Kiptoo Kimaiyo and Geoffrey Koech — who were later to finish 11th and drop out just after 35km respectively — remained together at the front. Just before 34km Kiplimo Lagat quickly established a big lead, never to be headed. He passed 40km in 2:01:30 with a sub-2:08 time still likely but was clearly flagging over the final 2km and had to settle for a course record and a personal best.
Spain's 37-year old international Carles Castillejo came through strongly over the final 7km, having been 10th at 35km and fourth at 40km, to claim the Spanish national title and guarantee a place on Spain's Rio 2016 Olympic Games team.
Paula Gonzalez won her debut marathon just ahead of Morocco's Koutar Boulaid. A group of African athletes set the early pace Miriam Wangari, Rael Jepyator and Eunice Jeptoo, plus Ethiopia's Roman Mengistu, went through halfway in 1:14:15 with Gonzalez and Boulaid over a minute in arrears. Jeptoo broke away from her three rivals at the front shortly before 30km (1:45:45) with Gonzalez and Boulaid almost two minutes adrift. But the pair ran Jeptoo down Jeptoo from 31–37km — Gonzalez with a modest lead over Boulaid which she kept to the end.
MEN: 1 Cosmas Kiplimo LAGAT KEN 2:08:14 2 Carlos CASTILLEJO ESP 2:11:29 3 Hassane AHOUCAR MAR 2:11:39 4 Sibusio NZIMA RSA 2:11:43 5 Hassan Omanga MOKAYA RSA 2:11:53 6 Jesus ESPAÐA ESP 2:11:58 7 Girma LEGESE ETH 2:14:15 8 Jose Carlos HERNANDEZ ESP 2:14:31 9 Michael CLOHISEY IRL 2:15:11 10 Aschalew NEGUSSE ETH 2:15:25 WOMEN: 1 Paula GONZALEZ ESP 2:31:18 2 Koutar BOULAID MAR 2:31:26 3 Estela NAVASCUES ESP 2:32:49 4 Eunice JEPTOO KEN 2:33:13 5 Doroteia PEIXOTO POR 2:36:01 6 Marta SILVESTRE ESP 2:36:10 7 Aroa MERINO ESP 2:36:38 8 Paula TODORAN ROU 2:36:44 9 RAael Jepyator KIMAIYO KEN 2:37:11 10 Sonia BEJARANO ESP 2:38:22
22 FEBRUARY 2016: SAHARA MARATHON, ALGERIA
MEN: 1 Vicente Grande DUQUE ESP 3:01:08 2 Juan Pedro García OCHOA ESP 3:13:02 3 Djamel TAIBI ALG 3:25:52 4 Lorenzo SOLIGO ITA 3:29:36 5 Ramón Álvarez SAINZ ESP 3:30:17 6 Agustín Agote GARMENDIA ESP 3:30:30 7 Fran Llanos MONTE ESP 3:33:07 8 Claudio GALEAZZI ITA 3:36:54 9 Adán Marón LORENZO ESP 3:42:11 10 Óscar Arza PARRACIA ESP 3:42:14 WOMEN: 1 Erika BUOSO ITA 4:11:56 2 Amanda MANNEREWICK SWE 4:20:16 3 Giovanna SANSONI ITA 4:44:16 4 Maria Luz Wander BAQUEDARO ESP 4:45:52 5 Emmy KARNERUD SWE 4:53:32 6 Linnea WERLID SWE 4:58:58 7 Elena FAVERO ITA 5:21:15 8 Shelley BOOTH USA 5:22:24 9 Martina VANZO ITA 5:29:53 10 Susir TROYER USA 5:44:29 HALF MARATHON MEN: 1 Ouadhah TSABET ALG 1:13:43 2 Benahmed Aissa BOUBDALLAH ALG 1:15:24 3 Hicham ATTOUT ALG 1:16:02
26 FEBRUARY 2016: TEL-AVIV SAMSUNG MARATHON, ISRAEL
MEN: 1 William Kiprono YEGON KEN 2:10:51 2 Francis KIBIWOTT KEN 2:12:19 3 Stephen KIPNGETICH KEN 2:14:08 4 Jackson KIPKOECH KEN 2:14:21 5 Ilya TIAPKIN KGZ 2:22:34 6 Dan ALTERMAN ISR 2:40:15 7 Piotr SAWICKI POL 2:41:27 8 Itai RAZ ISR 2:47:00 9 Roven AZURU ISR 2:47:11 10 Ido SHAVIT ISR 2:48:07 WOMEN: 1 Lonah CHEMTAI KEN 2:40:17 2 Margaret NJUNGA KEN 2:43:10 3 Azeb GEBREEGZHABEHA ETH 2:58:51 4 Beati DEUTSCHE ISR 3:27:47 5 Anna KOTOVA RUS 3:29:41
28 FEBRUARY 2016: KINMEN MARATHPON, CHINESE TAIPEI
MEN: 1 Noris Kipkemboi BIWOTT KEN 2:18:22 2 Josphat Jepkopol KAMZEE KEN 2:34:37 WOMEN: 1 Emily SAMOEI KEN 2:37:11 2 Nancy Joan ROTICH KEN 2:41:3228 FEBRUARY 2016: MARITZBURG CITY MARATHON, SOUTH AFRICA
MEN: 1 Prodigal KHUMALO RSA 2:26:44 2 Thelumusa SIBIYA RSA 2:32:08 3 Sipho NGXONGO RSA 2:34:19 4 Temo RAMPUKO RSA 2:35:12 5 Lovemore CHABATA RSA 2:37:36 6 Mlondi Benedict ZUMA RSA 2:38:06 7 Garikai MADAWO RSA 2:38:11 8 Shepherd CHITAKE RSA 2:38:26 9 Sifiso CHILI RSA 2:38:50 10 Perfect DLAMINI RSA 2:38:51 WOMEN: 1 Lisa COLLETT RSA 3:09:09 2 Candyce HALL RSA 3:11:51 3 Zisandele MKHIZE RSA 3:15:30 4 Cary-Ann SMITH RSA 3:16:37 5 Ashleigh WHITE RSA 3:17:22 6 Mambo NONSIKELELO RSA 3:22:51 7 Sbongile ZIQUBU RSA 3:23:25 8 Patricia DAMMANN RSA 3:25:10 9 Julia HACKLAND RSA 3:25:23 10 Chin PIETERSE RSA 3:26:30 HALF MARATHON MEN: 1 Motlokoa Clement NKHABUTLANE RSA 1:06:38 2 Silindile GUBESE RSA 1:06:59 3 Ndumiso SOKHELA RSA 1:07:41 WOMEN: 1 Suzette BOTHA RSA 1:25:39 2 Nwabisa MJOLI RSA 1:26:54 3 Lindokuhle GABELA RSA 1:27:47
28 FEBRUARY 2016: TOKYO MARATHON, JAPAN
Helah Kiprop set a new course record of 2:21:27 after passing through halfway in 1:10:41 writes Ken Nakamura. The lead group then ran a 16:34 5km split — the fastest of the race — and reached 30km in 1:40:26. At 35km (1:57:08) Kiprop had compatriot Edna Kiplagat and the Ethiopian pair of Amane Gobena and Aberu Kebede for company. But Kiprop steadily surged away covering the next 5km in 16:39 while the others all took over 17 minutes. She took almost a minute off the record set by Ethiopia's Tirfe Tsegaye two years ago and improved her best by over two minutes.
Feyisa Lelisa won his first victory since Xiamen in 2010. He kicked away from last year's winner Dickson Chumba in the final kilometre but Bernard Kipyego overtook Chumba in the final few metres for second spot. The main pack went through 10km in 29:37 but then slowed slightly to pass halfway in 1:02:52. After nine runners passed 30km in 1:29:49 Chumba made his move and Lelisa went with him. They led by 37 seconds at 35km and 53 seconds at 40km — but then Chumba began to slow dramatically and Feyisa had an untroubled win.
Yuki Takamiya's eighth place, with an improvement in his personal best by nearly five minutes, came as a surprise even to himself.
MEN: 1 Feyisa LELISA ETH 2:06:56 2 Bernard KIPYEGO KEN 2:07:33 3 Dickson CHUMBA KEN 2:07:34 4 Stephen KIPRITICH UGA 2:07:46 5 Abel KIRUI KEN 2:08:06 6 Eliud KIPTANUI KEN 2:08:55 7 Emmanuel MUTAI KEN 2:10:23 8 Yuki TAKAMIYA JPN 2:10:57 9 Javier GUERRA ESP 2:11:01 10 (untranslated name) JPN 2:11:34 WOMEN: 1 Helah KIPROP KEN 2:21:27 2 Amane GOBENA ETH 2:21:51 3 Edna KIPLAGAT KEN 2:22:36 4 Aberu KEBEDE ETH 2:23:01 5 Berhanu DIBABA ETH 2:23:16 6 Shure DEMISE ETH 2:25:04 7 Ashete DIDO ETH 2:25:50 8 Maja NEUENSCHWANDER SUI 2:27:36 9 Isabellah ANDERSSON SWE 2:30:02 10 (untranslated name) JPN 2:31:17
28 FEBRUARY 2016: WORLD'S BEST 10km, PUERTO RICO
Bedan Karoki and Mary Wacera warmed up for the World Half Marathon in March with narrow wins that repeated their successes in 2014 writes Javier Clavelo Robinson. It was the first time the race had been held in the morning rather than the usual late afternoon start. The men went through 5km in 13:55. Karoki always featured in the lead group as it began to shrink over the final 3km. Three remained in contention with a kilometre to go: Karoki, Leonard Barsoton and 2015 world leader Stephen Sambu. Barsoton made his effort with 500m to go but Karoki found an extra gear in the sprint finish to overtake him and prevail in a photo finish. Both were men were timed 27:42, the fastest time in the race for five years.
In the women's race Ethiopia's defending champion Belaynesh Oljira formed part of a nine-woman group that passed 3km in 9:12. As the race progressed the lead group shrank to six women and it was only in the last 500m that Wacera found an extra gear to secure victory. Beverley Ramos set a national record for Puerto Rico in tenth place.
MEN: 1 Bedan KAROKI KEN 27:42 2 Leonard BARSOTON KEN 27:42 3 Stephen SAMBU KEN 27:48 4 John MWANGANGI KEN 28:00 5 Julius KOGO KEN 28:00 6 Muktar Edris AWEL ETH 28:19 7 El Hassan EL ABBASSI BRN 28:30 8 Titus MBISHEI KEN 28:33 9 Kenneth KIPKEMOI KEN 28:41 10 Paul TANUI KEN 28:53 WOMEN: 1 Mary Ngugi WACERA KEN 31:48 2 Belaynesh OLJIRA ETH 31:50 3 Veronica Nyuarai KEN 31:55 4 Linet MASAI KEN 31:56 5 Monicah WANJIKU KEN 31:58 6 Lineth CHEPKURUI KEN 32:11 7 Buze DIRIBA ETH 32:13 8 Lanni MARCHANT CAN 32:15 9 Diane NUKURI BDI 32:45 10 Beverly RAMOS PUR 33:19
February 2016
