Mara Yamauchi wins Osaka Ladies Marathon

Great Britain's Mara Yamauchi won today's running of the Osaka Ladies' Marathon, cruising in a time of 2:25:10, and almost certainly punching her ticket to Beijing to join Paula Radcliffe.

She passed Kayoko Fukushi, the Asian record holder (1:07:26) at the half marathon, who was making her marathon debut in the 2008 Osaka Ladies Marathon, shortly after 34 kilometers to take the victory.

It was a personal best by three seconds and the first marathon victory for Yamauchi, who improved on her previous personal best of 2:25:13 from the 2006 London Marathon.

Yamauchi, who lives in Japan, had experience on the Osaka course, as she was ninth at the world championships (above, talking to reporters in the mixed zone /photo by Paul Merca) last year.

You can read the full details of the race here.

Complete results are posted here; to check out Mara Yamauchi's web site, and her thoughts on her victory, click here...