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Takeuchi for the Win at Kanagawa Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

Enjoying ideal weather conditions along with most of the rest of the country, the 34th Kanagawa Half Marathon saw one of the fastest winning times in its history.  Running alone through much of the race, sophomore Ikki Takeuchi rode the momentum of Aoyama Gakuin University's best-ever 5th-place finish at last month's Hakone Ekiden to win by a margin of 40 seconds  in 1:03:25, one of the fastest winning times in Kanagawa history and nearly a  minute faster than team ace Takehiro Deki's winning time last year.  Senshu University's Shunsuke Miyasaka won out in a tightly-grouped pack race for 2nd in 1:04:05, with Takeuchi's teammate Yuki Kawasaki 3rd in 1:04:12.

In the men's 10 km, Shoin University leader Aritaka Kajiwara won in a relatively conservative 30:10 over Kokugakuin University's Fumihiro Miyake.

2012 Kanagawa Half Marathon
Yokohama, 2/5/12

Men's Half Marathon
1. Ikki Takeuchi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:25 - PB
2. Shunsuke Miyasaka (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:05
3. Yuki Kawasaki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:12
4. Sho Suminaka (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:18
5. Shota Saito (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:21
6. Yuma Morii (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:23 - PB
7. Hirotaka Ueno (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:33
8. Takehiro Kobayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:35
9. Koji Someya (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:35
10. Junichi Fukuzawa (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:35 - debut

Men's 10 km
1. Aritaka Kajiwara (SHoin Univ.) - 30:10
2. Fumihiro Miyake (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 30:46
3. Tomoaki Kimura (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 31.21

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
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