Richard Etir breaks the Marugame course record with 59:07 into a headwind

The 78th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon had a tailwind for the first 10 km and a headwind for the last 10. Richard Etir, a Kenyan running for Tokyo Kokusai University, used the first half and survived the second. The lead group passed 5 km in 13:59 and 10 km in 27:51. After the turnaround Etir and Emmanuel Maru broke clear, and by 15 km Etir was nine seconds up and on pace to break 59. The wind slowed him, but 59:07 was still a course record and a personal best, and he won by almost a minute. Maru was second in 1:00:06 and Santiago Catrofe of Uruguay third in a national record 1:00:21.

Tomoya Ogikubo was the first Japanese finisher, fourth in 1:00:22. The depth was the usual Marugame story: every one of the top 20 broke 61 minutes, eleven of them university students, 70 men broke 62 and 130 broke 63. A time of 1:04:26 got you 200th.

Dolphine Omare won the women's race for the third year in a row in 1:06:15, ten seconds outside her own course record after passing 10 km in 30:47. Eilish McColgan was second in 1:07:08 in her first race since her European 10 km record in Valencia. She ran most of the way alone, and told Japan Running News she spent the second half passing men who had gone out too hard. Susan Kamotho was third in 1:07:56 on her debut at the distance.

A course record into a headwind says more than one with the wind at your back.

Sources: Japan Running News; Athletics Illustrated.