Mizuki Noguchi © www.photorun.net

Japan’s Olympic Marathon champion, Mizuki Noguchi, won the Miyazaki Half Marathon over the weekend, beating her nearest rival by more than two and a half minutes. The 28-year-old, who was so successful at the half distance before she ran her first marathon that she was nicknamed “The Queen of the Half Marathon” in Japan, ran 68:30, despite windy conditions. Her countrywomen Marina Haga (71:01) and Hiroko Miyauchi (71:11) took the next places.

Noguchi missed her personal best by 47 seconds, which was explained by the weather conditions. “This is a great start into the new year, and I hope to carry on like this,” said Noguchi, who won the Berlin Marathon with an Asian record of 2:19:12 a year after her Olympic triumph in Athens in 2004. Last year she had planned to return to Berlin, but then was stopped by an injury. She will run her next marathon in London on April 22.

Shaving Cream Instead of a World Record for Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge’s winning time at the New Year’s Eve 10K race in Madrid was the first sub-27:00 result on the road, but it won’t be ratified as a world record. The Kenyan improved his one-year-old course record by 40 seconds and stormed into the finish of the San Silvestre Vallecana with a clocking of 26:54. But the course has an overall drop of 55 meters, which is greater than the allowable drop in road races of one meter per kilometer. As a result, Haile Gebrselassie will not lose his world record of 27:02, set in Doha in 2002.

In Madrid, 22-year-old Kipchoge narrowly defeated the 20K world champion of 2006, Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea. Shortly before the finish the elite runners had to endure a Spanish New Year’s Eve surprise: They were splashed with shaving cream. A year earlier spectators had thrown screamers at Paula Radcliffe when she was on her way to victory. In the end Kipchoge got an impressive victory and plenty of shaving cream, but no world record.