Yumiko Hara ( ja, 原裕美子, born 9 January 1982 in

Ashikaga, Tochigi is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 143,653, in 62,123 households and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ashikaga is located in the ...

) is a Japanese marathon runner. She has represented Japan at two

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

and had won marathons in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

. She started out as a

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

track runner but she changed to

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

at a relatively young age. She set a

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

best at the 2002 Miyazaki Women's Road Race, where her time of 1:09:28 brought her third place behind Mizuki Noguchi and Mikie Takanaka. Running at the

Sapporo Half Marathon The was an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance which took place each July in Sapporo, Japan. First held in 1958, the race began as a full marathon competition for men under the moniker of the Hokkai Times Marathon. Th ...

in 2003 she finished with a time not far from her personal best (1:09:37) to take second place behind

Catherine Ndereba Catherine Nyambura Ndereba (born 21 July 1972) is a Kenyan marathon runner. She has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008. She is ...

, who set a course record. Over this period she competed at the

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

and although she failed to finish at the 2002 edition, she managed 19th place the following year. Hara made her debut over the classic distance at the 2005 Nagoya Marathon, which she won in a time of 2:24:19, and she went on to finish sixth at the 2005 World Championships. She achieved a personal best time of 2:23:48 hours when she won the 2007

Osaka Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai T ...

. Having won in a sub-2:26 time, she received automatic selection for the World Championship marathon, also in Osaka, later that year. She was eighteenth at the 2007 World Championships. She returned to the Nagoya course in 2008 but could not repeat her previous success as she fell behind the leading pack at 31 km and finished in fourth place. Hara took third at the 2009 Osaka Ladies Marathon, but did not compete for over a year after the run. Having left her coaching team (Kyocera track), she began training alone. She approached Japanese coach Yoshio Koide (who trained 2000 Olympic champion

Naoko Takahashi is a retired Japanese long-distance runner and Olympic gold medal-winning marathoner. She won the gold medal in the marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and became the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2:20:00 in 2001. Biography Tak ...

among others) and Hara joined his stable in 2010. She quickly responded and won the

Hokkaido Marathon The Hokkaido Marathon held in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan, is one of the prominent marathon races of the year. The staging area as well as both the start and finish lines are in Odori Park starting between Nishi 3-chome and Nishi 4-chome and the fi ...

in August, running 2:34:12 in hot and humid weather. She currently is retired from running, and has been arrested for shoplifting several times, for example, she was arrested for stealing cosmetics and other items on July 30, 2017. She was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a one-year prison term, which was suspended by the judge in the case.http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201711090051.html

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hara, Yumiko 1982 births Living people Japanese female long-distance runners Sportspeople from Tochigi Prefecture Japanese female marathon runners 20th-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese women