Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon

The Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon (ぎふ清流ハーフマラソン) is an annual half marathon road running competition held in May in Gifu, Japan.

Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon
Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium, the start and finish point of the race
DateMid-April
LocationGifu, Japan
Event typeRoad
DistanceHalf marathon
Primary sponsorSuzuki
Established2011
Course recordsMen's: 59:56 (2022)
Kenya Alexander Mutiso
Women's: 1:06:06 (2019)
Kenya Ruth Chepng'etich
Official siteGifu Seiryu Half Marathon
Participants459 finishers (2022)
406 finishers (2019)

First held in 2011, the race is also called the Naoko Takahashi Cup (高橋尚子杯, Takahashi Naoko Hai),[1] named after Naoko Takahashi, the retired local runner who won the marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and broke the marathon world record in 2001, becoming the first woman to complete the distance in under two hours and twenty minutes.[2] The first edition featured top level and popular sections for the half marathon as well as a shorter 3-kilometre fun run. All the funds raised during the event went towards the reconstruction effort following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[3] Some 9000 people took part in the inaugural event including elite Kenyan runners Martin Mathathi and Catherine Ndereba.[4]

The 2012 edition of the race attracted greater numbers of elite runners, both international and Japanese. Mathathi won for a second time while South Africa's René Kalmer won the women's race.[5] In 2013 the race gained IAAF Bronze Label status and attracted six-time World Half Marathon champion Zersenay Tadese, who set a course record of 60:31 minutes to dethrone Mathathi. Mestawet Tufa knocked three minutes of the women's course record with her run of 70:03 minutes.[6] In 2015 Eunice Kirwa improved the women's course record to 69:37 minutes.[7]

The course for the competition starts and finishes at the Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium. It has a single-looped format and mainly follows the Nagara River in the north and central parts of the city. The first section of the race heads south for 4 km, passing through the Yanagase shopping district, until it reaches the Golden Statue of Oda Nobunaga beside Gifu Station. The course then returns north and, upon reaching the river, takes a 6 km-long route going east alongside the river, passing Mount Kinka and Gifu Castle. The course then crosses Tidori Bridge into the Nagara-Furutsu district and heads back west before finally ending up at the stadium.[8]

The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]

Past winners
The Nagara River at the heart of the inner-city course

Key:   Course record

Edition Year Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 2011  Martin Mathathi (KEN) 1:00:47  Mao Kuroda (JPN) 1:13:45
2nd 2012  Martin Mathathi (KEN) 1:01:29  René Kalmer (RSA) 1:13:02
3rd 2013  Zersenay Tadese (ERI) 1:00:31  Mestawet Tufa (ETH) 1:10:03
4th 2014  Bedan Karoki (KEN) 1:00:02  Visiline Jepkesho (KEN) 1:10:53
5th 2015  James Rungaru (KEN) 1:02:21  Eunice Kirwa (BHR) 1:09:37
6th 2016  Patrick Mwaka (KEN) 1:01:51  Eunice Kirwa (BHR) 1:08:55
7th 2017  Alexander Mutiso (KEN) 1:00:57  Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN) 1:07:44
8th 2018  Nicholas Kosimbei (KEN) 1:01:12  Degitu Azmeraw (ETH) 1:09:53
9th 2019  Amos Kurgat (KEN) 1:00:34  Ruth Chepng'etich (KEN) 1:06:06
– 2020cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
– 2021
10th 2022  Alexander Mutiso (KEN) 59:56  Dolphine Omare (KEN) 1:08:13

See also

References
  1. Race Outline Archived 2013-04-29 at the Wayback Machine. Gifu Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  2. Nakamura, Ken (2008-10-29). Takahashi, Marathon barrier-breaker, announces retirement. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  3. 世界陸上代表の川内は１３位　ぎふ清流マラソン Archived 2013-11-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). 47 News (Kyodo News). Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  4. Larner, Brett (2011-05-13). Mathathi, Kuroda Win Gifu Half Marathon, Kawauchi 13th. Japan Running News. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  5. Larner, Brett (2012-05-20). Mathathi Wins Second-Straight Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, Kalmer Sets Women's Course Record. Japan Running News. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  6. Nakamura, Ken (2013-05-19). Course records for Tadese and Tufa at Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  7. Nakamura, Ken (2015-05-17). Kirwa breaks course record at Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-05-17.
  8. Course Map 2013 Archived 2013-05-08 at the Wayback Machine. Gifu Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-05-20.
  9. "Gifu Half Marathon". www.gifu-marathon.jp. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-06-27.

35.4414°N 136.7656°E / 35.4414; 136.7656

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