Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko of Ukraine came from behind to win the 33rd Osaka Women’s Marathon in 2:24:37 on Sunday (26), defending the crown she won last year at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

The champions from the past three editions of the Osaka Women’s Marathon – Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko, Risa Shigetomo and Yukiko Akaba – have returned to contest the IAAF Silver Label Road Race, which this year doubles as a selection race for the 2014 Asian Games, on Sunday (26).

Three years after being soundly beaten into third place at the Sanyo Women’s Half Marathon, Sally Chepyego returned to Okayama on Monday (23) in the hope of a better result. The Kenyan well and truly avenged that defeat and shattered the course record in the process.

The organisers of the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women’s Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, have announced that Ukraine’s reigning champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko will defend her title on 26 January.

There was a strong African presence at the 2013 Gold Coast Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, on 7 July.

It pays to run a marathon with ambition, and the 2013 Gold Coast Marathon on Sunday (6) has set its goals high – no less than race records in the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in both the men’s and women’s events and the fastest-ever marathon on Australian soil.

Fumihiro Maruyama won the men’s race at the 41st annual All-Japan Corporate Team Half Marathon Championships in Yamaguchi with 1:01:15, while Yukiko Akaba, who also won this race in 2008 with the course record of 1:08:11, took the women’s honours in 1:08:59.