The Sanyo Women's Half Marathon, also known as the Sanyo Women's Road Race (), is an annual

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

competition for women held in December in

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

, Japan. It features both a

10K run The 10K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 10K road race, 10 km, or simply 10K, it is one of the most common types of road running event, alongside the shorter 5K and longer half ...

and

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

race (21.1 km/13.1 miles).

Sanyo Shimbun The is a Japanese language daily newspaper published by . The company was founded on January 4, 1879. The newspaper is based in Okayama, Japan. The newspaper covers national and international news stories and also news from Okayama and neighborin ...

, a daily newspaper, is the title sponsor for the event. The day's events previously included an inter- prefectural competition (1985 to 1999) and a junior 3 km race in the 1990s. The half marathon race attracts top level Japanese and Japan-based foreign runners, as well as a smaller number of other international runners. The race is occasionally used as the Japanese women's selection race for the

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Road Running Championships is a biennial international road running competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It wa ...

.Mulkeen, Jon (2013-12-24)
Chepyego smashes course record in Okayama
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-02-23. Japanese entrants in both events are mostly collegiate athletes or members of corporate running teams. The course starts and finishes at Kanko Stadium in the centre of Okayama city. The half marathon is known as the Yuko Arimori Cup, in honour of the two-time Olympic medallist in the marathon, who was born in the city. The 10K is referred to as the

Kinue Hitomi was a Japanese track and field athlete. She was the world record holder in several events in the 1920s – 1930s and was the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic medal. She was also the first woman to represent Japan at the Olympics. Biogra ...

Cup in respect of the Okayama-born athlete who won Japan's first ever women's Olympic medal. Typically, the half marathon features about 100 entries and the 10K attracts around 200 runners. The 2011 edition had a record high of 366 entrants into the top level races. The course record for the half marathon is held by Sally Kaptich Chepyego with her time of 1:08:17 hours set in 2015 – the second time she had broken the record. The 10K record of 31:54 minutes was set in 2007 by

Tiki Gelana Erba Tiki Gelana (; born 22 October 1987) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best of 2:18:58 remained the Ethiopian national record for the event from 2012 to 2017. She won the 2011 Amsterdam Maratho ...

. Historically, the winners of both races have been Japanese. There were several Chinese winners in the 1990s and since 2000 Kenyan women based in Japan have increasingly reached the top of the podium. Yukiko Akaba is the only runner to win consecutive half marathon titles. Kenyans Chepyego and Evelyn Kimwei and Japan's

Mizuki Noguchi is a Japanese professional long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon event. She is an Olympic champion over the distance. Initially starting out as a track and cross country athlete, her first major success was becoming the Asi ...

(the 2004 Olympic marathon champion) are the only other women to win the race twice.Shigenobu Ota et al. (2013-12-27)
Sanyo Women's Half Marathon

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2014-02-22.

Past winners

Key:

Half marathon

10K run

References

{{reflist ;List of winners *Shigenobu Ota et al. (2013-12-27)
Sanyo Women's Half Marathon

. Retrieved on 2014-02-22. Road running competitions in Japan Half marathons 10K runs Recurring sporting events established in 1982 Sport in Okayama Women's athletics competitions Women's sport in Japan