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Despite suffering a side-stitch 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.

Third fastest winning time

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 ...