http://www.iaaf.org/news/preview/zersenay-tadese-gifu-seiryu-half-marathon
16 MAY 2014 PREVIEW GIFU, JAPAN
TADESE BIDDING TO RETAIN GIFU HALF MARATHON CROWN BUT FACES KENYAN CHALLENGE
The fourth annual Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon - Naoko Takahashi Cup - on
Sunday (18) should see a thrilling men's race as the IAAF Bronze Label Road
Race organisers have secured the services of three men who have career
bests of under an hour, headed by Eritrea's World record holder Zersenay
Tadese.
Five of the top six finishers in last year's race, including the 2013
winner Tadese, will return to contest this year's race and the Eritrean is
the prohibitive favourite to retain his crown.
In his latest half marathon outing, the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon
Championships in March, Tadese was only fourth but still recorded the time
of 59:38, faster than the personal best of any of the other entrants in
Gifu.
Jacob Wanjuki, Cyrus Njui, Abayneh Ayele and Patrick Mwaka - all Kenyans
apart from Ayele, who is from Ethiopia - were third, fourth, fifth, and
sixth last year and are back to challenge Tadese, but his main competition
may be Kenya's Bedan Karoki, fifth in the London 2012 Olympic Games 10,000m.
Karoki, who lives in Tokyo, won his half marathon debut in Lisbon recently
with 59:58. In his latest race, Karoki was third in the 10,000m at the
Hyogo Relays last month with 27:32.83, evidence that he is rounding into
form.
As for their most recent half marathon races, Wanjuki was fourth in
All-Japan Corporate team half marathon championships with 1:01:32, while
Abayneh Ayele was sixth in the Lisbon Half Marathon with 1:02:14.
Njui has not run a half marathon this year yet, but he was 14th in
February's Tokyo Marathon with 2:09:35.
Kenya's Mekubo Mogusu - the third sub-60 minute runner in the field after
Tadese and Karoki - Japan's Yuki Kawauchi and Mongolia's Ser-od Bat-Ochir
are entered for the Gifu race and are all well-known distance runners, but
also ran last weekend's Sendai Half Marathon, where they were third with
1:03:19, fourth with 1:03:23 and fifth with 1:03:32, respectively so it is
difficult to see them being a factor in Gifu.
Waweru debut intrugue
A particularly intriguing runner in the field is Kenya's Edward Waweru, who
also lives in Japan. He is making his half marathon debut in Gifu but since
his 10,000m personal best is an impressive 27:13.94, Waweru's half marathon
debut is awaited with much anticipation.
In his most recent race, in the Hyogo Relays 10000m, Waweru was second with
27:26.92.
The women's field may not as strong as men's field but two-time IAAF World
Championships marathon winner Edna Kiplagat has good prospects of breaking
the course record which stands at 1:10:03, set by Ethiopia's Mestawat Tufa
in last edition of the race.
Her half marathon personal best is 1:07:41, established in 2012 Great North
Run. Since Kiplagat is the only runner with the half marathon best under
1:10, she is a strong favourite, even more so in the light of 2:20:21
marathon she recorded in London last month.
Gifu is the home town of the 2000 Olympic marathon champion and local
legend Naoko Takahashi.
The race runs along part of road where she used to train in her youth and
then finishes at the Gifu Memorial Stadium, where the statue of Takahashi
was erected after her Olympic victory.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Received on Sat May 17 2014 - 19:06:28 EDT