Catherine
Ndereba wins the Sapporo Half Marathon
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
7 July 2002 - Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, the holder of the world best
performance for the women’s marathon won today’s 45th annual Sapporo half
marathon, which was contested on the northern island of Hokkaido, Japan. The
Kenyan crossed the line in 1:08:57 after overhauling the early leader Mikie
Takanaka who lead her by 7 seconds at 15Km.
Samuel Kabiru, a Kenyan who lives in Japan and runs for Honda track team won the men’s race in a new course record of 1:01:11.
Takanaka who finished 19th in this year's IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, lead today's women's race early on, passing 5Km in 15:58. At that point the lead pack included Ndereba, Masako Chiba the 1997 world championships 10,000m bronze medallist, and South Africa's Elana Meyer the 1992 Olympic 10,000m silver medallist. Reiko Tosa, the 2001 world marathon silver medallist was by then already 11 seconds adrift. Chiba eventually finished 20th while Meyer was 10th.
Takanaka whose half marathon best is 1:08:32 continued to lead and passed 10Km in 32:14 and 15m in 48:34. By then only Catherine Ndereba was close.
By 20Km, Ndereba turned a 7 seconds deficit at 15Km into a 7 seconds advantage. She continued to pull away from Takanaka and won by 16 seconds. It was a second half marathon victory of Ndereba in Japan this year, who won the Kyoto half marathon in March in 1:08:48.
Ndereba said she was confident of winning the race although the rain made her worry a little bit whether she would be able to run at her chosen speed. She added that she wanted to race again at the marathon in Chicago this year, where she hoped to improve her world’s fastest time.
For second place Takanaka, it was the third sub 1:10 half marathon this year. Takanaka finished second behind Mizuki Noguchi in the Miyazaki half marathon in January in 1:08:32, and third behind Yuko Kawakami in the All Japan Corporate half marathon championships in 1:09:42.
Twenty-one years old, Takanaka is a member of Kyocera track team. In a recent interview by "Track and Field Magazine of Japan", she said: "Since my 10,000m personal best is quite modest (32:23:00), I would like to record sub 32 minutes 10000m as soon as possible. Eventually, I would like to be successful at the marathon."
In the men’s race Kabiru’s winning in a time of 1:01:11 was a new course record, breaking the course record set in 1999 by Kenya’s John Kanyi - also resident in Japan - by 21 seconds.
After a huge pack of runners passed through 5Km in 14:26, a group nine (seven of whom were Japanese based Kenyans) broke away, passing 10Km in 28:58. By then, USA’s Khalid Khannouchi, the world fastest marathon runner, who won Kyoto half marathon in March, had drifted off the lead pack.
By 15Km (42:23), the race turned into a duel between Samuel Kabiru and Daniel Njenga, a former world junior record holder at 3000mSC, as they broke away from the rest of the lead group. Kabiru opened a 7 seconds gap by 20Km, which he increased to 23 seconds at the finish.
Men
1) Samuel Kabiru (KEN) 1:01:11
2) Daniel Njenga (KEN) 1:01:34
3) James Wainaina (KEN) 1:01:55
4) Abdallah Bayi (MAR) 1:02:03
5) James Maina (KEN) 1:02:08
6) Toshihiro Iwasa (JPN) 1:02:16
Women
1) Catherine Ndereba (KEN) 1:08:57
2) Mikie Takanaka (JPN) 1:09:13
3) Naoko Sakamoto (JPN) 1:09:55
4) Sakiyo Kan (JPN) 1:10:05
5) Ruth Wanjiru (KEN) 1:10:15
6) Reiko Tosa (JPN) 1:10:18
