The

Mizuki Noguchi, seen here winning the Athens Olympic Marathon, was just as successful at half the distance in Sapporo. © www.photorun.net

Olympic Marathon champion Mizuki Noguchi won Sunday’s Sapporo Half-Marathon in Japan for the second year in a row. The Japanese star’s winning time of 68:22 was only 8 seconds off of her course record. It’s likely that Noguchi will now prepare for the Tokyo Marathon in November, where she has the chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That may well lead to a match-up with the previous Olympic Marathon champion, her compatriot Naoko Takahashi.

The Kenyan Evelyne Kimwei was the first to take the lead in warm weather, but she started to slow after the 13K mark, and Noguchi went past. “I wanted to run my own race,” Noguchi explained afterward. The Briton Mara Yamauchi made a big improvement on her personal best, finishing second in 68:45, improving by 39 seconds. Yamauchi will be on the start line for the World Championship Marathon in Osaka at the end of the August.

A course record on the men’s side gave the finishing flourish to the 50th edition of the Sapporo event. Kenyan Mekubo Mogusu seized the initiative from the start, and despite slowing toward the end, became the first to break one hour in Sapporo. His time of 59:54 put him well ahead of Asefa Girma (Ethiopia/ 61:31) and Atsushi Sato (Japan/61:38).

55,000 Run Peachtree, Abdirahman is U.S. Champion

Kenyan Martin Mathathi and Ethiopian Wude Ayalew won the biggest 10K in the world on July 4, finishing first among 55,000 runners in Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race.The 38th edition included the U.S. 10K road championships. Abdi Abdirahman, who had taken the national track title at the distance two weeks earlier, won the American race-within-a-race, and finished second overall.

Mathathi and Abdirahman went through 8K together in 22:32. The American, who was born in Somalia, tried to make a break. He would have been the first American winner since Ed Eyestone won in Atlanta 16 years ago. But Mathathi would not yield and went clear from Abdirahman shortly before the finish to win in 28:01, good for $15,000. However, Mathathi wasn’t entirely satisfied, explaining later that he had hoped to run a minute faster to break Haile Gebrselassie’s world road best of 27:02.

Behind Abdirahman, who finished in 28:12 and received $17,500 in prize money for the U.S. title, came Kenyan Nicholas Kamakya in 28:02. Boaz Cheboiywo (Kenya/ 28:26) came in fourth, followed by the marathoner Ryan Hall (U.S./ 28:26) who made up a considerable amount of ground in the latter part of the race.

Ayalew ran a speedy 31:44 in surprisingly cool temperatures of around 70 degrees. Only four seconds behind her was Kenyan Alice Timbilil. Third was Katie McGregor (U.S./ 32:41). Sara Hall, wife of Ryan and usually a miler, was a surprising fourth in 32:58. KIMbia’s Kathy Butler (Great Britain) was sixth in 33:27.

Haile Gebrselassie to Chase One Million Dollars in Dubai

Even before Haile Gebrselassie makes his attack on the world record at the real,- Berlin Marathon on September 30, he has already decided on his next hunt for records. The Ethiopian, who has set a total of 23 world records in his career, will make his debut at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 18, 2008. This will be his final marathon before Beijing, where he plans to make his first start at the distance in the Olympics.

The Dubai Marathon is an enticing prospect with enormous prize money. Both winners will earn $250,000, double the biggest prize currently on the marathon scene. Anyone breaking the world record at the marathon in the United Arab Emirates will receive a bonus of $1 million. Kenyan Paul Tergat is the men’s world record holder with 2:04:55 (Berlin, 2003); on the women’s side the world record of 2:15:25 is held by Paula Radcliffe of Britain.

“My aims are to break the marathon world record and win the Olympic Games marathon,” said Gebrselassie in Dubai. “I’d like to break the world record here in Dubai, and my training towards that begins tomorrow. Because if you ask which is the most important, I would say my priority is to break the world record.”

Gebrselassie dismissed rumors that he will retire from running after the 2008 Olympics. “I’m still only 34,” he noted. “If you look at Miruts Yifter, he won the Olympics at 39, and Mamo Wolde was 40 years of age. I’ll only be 38 in London 2012, so I could still be there.”

Gebrselassie’s best marathon time is 2:05:56 which he ran in Berlin in 2006. “Ideally, I’d like him to break the world record by a little in Berlin, then a lot in Dubai,” said his agent, Jos Hermens.

Dieter Baumann to Run Frankfurt Marathon

Germany’s Olympic champion Dieter Baumann is to run the 28th edition of the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon in October. The 42-year-old said, “I only run for fun these days; running is my hobby. But I always had the marathon in the back of my mind.” The 1992 Olympic 5,000m champion will be making his second attempt at the distance. In April 2002 Baumann dropped out in Hamburg after 34 kilometers. He announced his retirement from top-flight competition on September 14, 2003. “I let myself be persuaded,” Baumann admitted.

“An experiment and a project that has been haunting me for quite some time,” was how Baumann described his participation in Frankfurt. Pressed to reveal what he thought might be his finishing time, Baumann conceded that 2:40 should certainly be possible. “Anyone who knows me knows how strong my ambition is and how I like to run fast.” He added that after dropping out in Hamburg the final chapter in his marathon story had still to be written.