Feb 10, 2010| The JapanTimes

OSAKA (Kyodo) Ethiopia's Amane Gobena chopped over a minute off her personal best time to win the Osaka International Women's Marathon on Sunday.

Gobena pulled away from Portugal's Marisa Barros just after the 38-km mark and never looked back, crossing the finish line at a rain-soaked Nagai Stadium in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 14 seconds for victory on her Osaka debut.

Barros clocked 2:25:44 while Mari Ozaki, competing in her first marathon since the 2007 track and field world championships here, took third in a time of 2:26:27. Romania's Lidia Simon was fourth in 2:27:11.

"It was a very difficult and tough course and I am very, very glad to win the race today," said Gobena, whose previous best time of 2:26:53 gave her second place at last year's Los Angeles Marathon.

Nursing a left knee problem, Yukiko Akaba retired from the race with a few kilometers remaining