Takayuki Ota and Mai Ito were the winners of the Kyoto Half Marathon. While Ota, who won the men’s race in 1:02:50, prevailed in a close race, Ito led early and was never threatened en route to a 1:11:11 victory.
With a pack of ten runners still in contention after 20 kilometres, Ota made his winning bid, pulling away from Takuya Yamawaki and Akihiro Tsumurai for a narrow two second win.
In the women’s race, Ito a student at Kyoto Sangyo University, took control early to win by more than a minute-and-a-half over Ryoko Kizaki .
Ken Nakamura with assistance from A.Onishi for the IAAF
Results:
Men
1. Takayuki Ota 1:02:50
2. Takuya Yamawaki 1:02:52
3. Akihiro Tsumurai 1:02:53
4. Ryoji Matsushita 1:02:58
5. Hiroyuki Tanaka 1:02:59
Splits:
5Km - 14:48
10Km - 30:05, (15:07)
15Km - 45:21, (15:16)
20Km - 59:50, (14:29)
Finish - 1:02:50
Women:
1. Mai Ito, 1:11:11
2. Ryoko Kizaki, 1:12:46
3. Noriko Higuchi, 1:13:14