Yomi Omogbeja (03/07/2005)

Kenya's World Marathon champion Catherine Ndereba has won the 48th annual Sapporo Half Marathon for a record third time.

The 32-year-old coasted home in 1:09:24 to secure her third victory in four years, having also won the Japanese event in 2002 and 2003.

The 2004 Olympic silver medalist and second-fastest woman in marathon history ran alone for most of the later stages of the race after leaving the trailing group at 15km.

Ndereba said: "I had a lot of pressure coming into this race, but I did not pay attention to it.

Japanese Yasuyo Iwamoto and Mizuki Noguchi finished second and third in 1:09:45 and 1:09:46 respectively.

Kenya's Megubo Mogusu won the men’s race in 1:01:28, ahead of Ethiopian Girma Assefa (second in 1:01:40) and fellow countryman Simon Maina (third in 1:01:49).