Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, who owns the fastest time in the women's marathon, came from behind to win the women's event at the Sapporo half marathon on Sunday.
Ndereba let Japan's Mikie Takanaka set the pace over most of the 21-km course from Maruyama Stadium and back, but then reeled in the 21-year-old hope with about 3 km remaining to win in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 57 seconds.
Takanaka was second in 1:09:13 while Reiko Tosa, runnerup at last summer's World Championships, could only manage sixth place in 1:10:18 in a hotly contested finish.
In the men's race, Kenya's Samuel Kabil, formerly an exchange student at Sendai Ikuei high school, won in a meet record 1:01:11 while Toshihisa Iwasa posted Japan's best finish with a 1:02:16 for sixth place.