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Yuri Kano 3rd in New York City Half Marathon, Tamesue and Others Race in Europe

by Brett Larner

Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) continued her summer of strength on July 27th, finishing in 3rd place at the 3rd New York City Half Marathon behind Kenyan marathon legend Catherine Ndereba and Mexican marathon national record holder Madai Perez. After finishing 4th in the race`s previous two editions, Kano once again found herself in a lead pack of four along with Ndereba, Perez and Kenyan Alice Timbilili. The four runners stayed close together throughout the race, with Kano doing most of the leading and Ndereba characteristically holding back just off the other competitors` shoulders. Timbilili was the first to fall back as Perez and Kano began to trade surges, but neither the Mexican nor the Japanese runner could respond to Ndereba`s long surge over the final two kilometers. Ndereba won in 1:10:19, with Perez 2nd in 1:10:26 and Kano 3rd in 1:10:31. Kano`s teammate Kiyoko Shimahara, in training for the Chicago Marathon, was 10th with a 1:13:41.

Across the Atlantic, men`s 400 m hurdles national record holder Dai Tamesue and Team Panasonic`s Mika Yoshikawa competed in the July 25-26 Aviva London Grand Prix meet. Both had disappointing showings, Tamesue last in the 400 m hurdles in 51.36 and Yoshikawa last in the women`s 1500 m in 4:19.62. Both runners` marks were well off their recent performances.


Misako Suguro in the women`s 3000 m at the Flanders Cup.

Elsewhere in Europe, several Japanese runners competed in the Flanders Cup meet in Belgium on July 23rd. Saori Yamashita (Team Hokuren) was 8th in the women`s 800 m B-group with a time of 2:09.26, while Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Acom) struggled home last in the same event, running 2:15.94. Chisa Hayakawa was 3rd in the women`s 800 m C-group in 2:10.82. Misako Suguro (Team Shiseido) was 10th in the women`s 3000 m in 9:28.81.


Saori Yamashita and Nanae Kuwashiro in the women`s 800 m B-group at the Flanders Cup.

At the Ciutat de Barcelona meet on July 19th, Yoshika Tatsumi (Team Noritz) was the sole Japanese competitor. Tatsumi ran 9:58.93 to finish 8th in the women`s 3000 m steeplechase.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Roberto said…
2:16?!?! That's shocking.

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