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Ndayisenga braves the elements to win the 25th Wokingham Half Marathon

Mizuno sponsored athlete Jean Ndayisenga battled through the wet and windy conditions to break the course record as he won the 25th Wokingham Half Marathon.

In his first appearance at the event, the Birchfield athlete was in good company as a full entry of 2,750 runners took to the slippery Berkshire roads on Sunday. Among those making up a quality field was John McFarlane, twice runner-up in recent years, Ben Moreau (Aldershot) with a previous best of 65:23 and Anurradha Cooray (Vale of Aylesbury) with a PB in 2009 of 66:46.

But it was Ndayisenga’s day as he beat Moreau to cross the line in 64:48, his best Half Marathon time since the 63:52 he recorded at Reading in 2006. The ladies race was anticipated to be an even more hardly fought contest, and it was Olympian Liz Yelling who raced home in her first race since giving birth eight months ago. Yelling, who broke the Wokingham course record in 2008, shrugged off the challenge of Nikki Smith and Samantha Amend to race home in 77.02.
 

Yelling’s day was made even better as she watched Britain’s Richard Whitehead destroy the amputee half marathon world record as he recorded a time of 1 hour 17min and 45sec over the 13.1 mile distance. Whitehead, who is trained by Yelling and has been sponsored by Mizuno, is hitting form at just the right time with the 2012 Olympics fast approaching and will be eager to go even faster next time out.

As well as being the Official Race Sponsor of the Wokingham Half Marathon, Mizuno is also committed to supporting runners across the globe, and in fact the Wokingham Half Marathon is one of a number of high profile, international mass participation races that make up the MIZUNO RUNNING SERIES. Runners from all corners can enter competitions to win places in the likes of the Barcelona and Milan marathons, and the top prize will see a couple jet off to Lake Kawaguchi for a run around Mount Fuji later this year!

For more information, visit
www.mizunorunningseries.com