Skip to main content

Omwamba Doubles and Suzuki Defends in National University T&F Championships 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Two days after winning the National University Track & Field Championships 10000 m title, Kenyan first-year Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) returned to outrun Nihon University's Kenyan pair Benjamin Gandu and Daniel Kitonyi and all Japanese comers for the 5000 m title.  Running off a slow first 2000 m in 5:40, Omwamba accelerated throughout the second half of the race to take the win in 13:53.53, Gandu 2nd in 13:55.81.  Shuho Dairokuno (Meiji Univ.) was the top Japanese finisher, 4th overall in 14:02.01 a step ahead of Aoyama Gakuin University's star first-year recruit Kazuma Kubota with Aoyama Gakuin captain Takehiro Deki just behind in his first quality performance since his 2:10:02 marathon debut at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Defending collegiate 5000 m champion Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) was only 14th in 14:22.38 just ahead of his twin brother Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.)

The women's 5000 m went out the other way, defending champion Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) taking things out very fast with a 3:03 first km and burning off all competition early. Suzuki was alone for almost the entire race, opening a 20-second gap on chaser Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) before fading badly over the final 2000 m. Suzuki slowed to 3:20/km but still managed to hold on for her second-straight win, clocking a solid 15:44.45 to Shoji's 15:51.25. 10000 m champ Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) was 8th in 16:04.93.

2012 National University T&F Championships Day Three
National Stadium, Tokyo, 9/11/12
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 13:53.53
2. Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:55.81
3. Daniel Kitonyi (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:57.68
4. Shuho Dairokuno (Meiji Univ.) - 14:02.01
5. Kazuma Kubota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 14:02.70
6. Takehiro Deki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 14:03.71
7. Yuki Maeda (Waseda Univ.) - 14:05.56
8. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:06.18
9. Shuhei Yamamoto (Waseda Univ.) - 14:08.10
10. Tatsuya Oike (Juntendo Univ.) - 14:14.21

Women's 5000 m
1. Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) - 15:44.45
2. Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) - 15:51.25
3. Shiho Takechi (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:56.78
4. Miho Shimizu (Hakuoh Univ.) - 15:58.50
5. Mai Tsuda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:59.25
6. Sairi Maeda (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:59.81
7. Nanaka Izawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 16:04.15
8. Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) - 16:04.93
9. Mutsumi Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16:05.63
10. Hitomi Suzuki (Tamagawa Univ.) - 16:11.90

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr