outside the two historically strong nations. A few kilometres later, she dropped back from the pack and at the 10 km mark five Ethiopians and four Kenyans had a fifteen-second advantage on the rest of the field. As the race reached the midway point, the temperature began to increase and the heat and humidity reduced the pace of the runners. The conditions took their toll on some of the leaders in this section of the race. Chepchirchir slowed considerably while Meseret Mengistu, Joyce Chepkirui and Fate Tola were the next to gradually lose contact with the front runners. Kiplagat, Dire, Arusei and Feyse Tadese were the sole contenders remaining as the race headed towards the final stages, but Kiplagat and Dire soon left the other two trailing a few minutes later. Despite Dire's greater experience over long distances, it was Kiplagat who forged ahead in the last kilometre and she won the race with ten seconds to spare over her Ethiopian rival. Arusei was the third across the line half a minute later, while Feyse Tadese, Joyce Chepkirui, Meseret Mengistu and Fate Tola took places 4–7 around one minute behind the winner. It was Arusei's clear third place which proved the difference between the top African teams, as Kenya won the team gold by a margin of 34 seconds over Ethiopia. A strong final phase saw Zhu Xiaolin take eighth place for the hosts, which was the best non-African individual performance that year. Japan's Yoshimi Ozaki and Ryoko Kizaki were immediately behind her, failing to get a top eight finish but yet again leading the country to the team bronze with a buffer of over six minutes between them and Australia. Kiplagat collected her first international road running title in only her second effort over the half marathon distance – her second world title after the senior crown at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She said her next priority would be taking a medal on the track "That is my goal for next year (World Championships in Daegu) and at the next Olympics". For Dire and Arusei – both prolific road runners – this was their first individual medal on the world stage. The younger Ethiopians (Feyse Tadese, Meseret Mengistu and Fate Tola) missed out on the medals but still set personal bests for the half marathon, as did Kenyan Joyce Chepkirui. Women's results Totals: 55 starters, 51