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Julia Mombi Wins Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon

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translated and edited by Brett Larner

Kenyan Julia Mombi won the 28th Miyazaki Women's Road Race half marathon on Jan. 6 in a PB time of 1:09:34. She followed her pre-race plan precisely, attacking with 2 km to go and dropping Hiroko Miyauchi of Team Oki.

Mombi attended Aomori Yamada High School and now runs for Team Aruze. She is preparing for the Jan. 27 Osaka International Women's Marathon, where she hopes to run 2:25 to qualify for the Kenyan marathon team at the Beijing Olympics. Mombi enthusiastically smiled, "I ran easily today. My legs have gotten stronger."

Miyauchi finished 20 seconds behind Mombi in 2nd place, while Miyauchi's sister Yoko, also of Team Oki, finished 3rd. 2006 Asia Games women's marathon bronze medalist Kayoko Obata of Team Acom did not run due to a fever. 47 runners started the race and 45 finished.

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