Skip to main content

Karoki, Moges Win Oda Memorial 5000 m

by Brett Larner

In high winds, Kenyan Bitan Karoki (Team S&B) took his first win in his new team colors as he ran 13:48.17 in the men's 5000 m at the 44th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29. Last month Karoki graduated from Sera High School to take a place with the elite Team S&B. Interestingly, the runner-up in the Oda Memorial 5000 m was his succesor at Sera, Kenyan Charles Durango, who clocked 13:58.15. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) finished 3rd in 14:04.70 over Kenyan Samuel Ganga (Team Mazda).

The women's 5000 m was a closer-pitched battle, turning into a three-way sprint finish. Ethiopian Betelhem Moges (Team Denso) came out on top in 15:38.70, with Kenyans Felista Wanjugu (Team Universal Entertainment) and Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo) just a step behind. Just behind, Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) outleaned Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) for 4th.

2010 Oda Memorial Track & Field Meet - Top Finishers
click event for complete results
Men's 5000 m
1. Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Team S&B) - 13:48.17
2. Charles Durango (Kenya/Sera H.S.) - 13:58.15
3. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 14:04.70
4. Samuel Ganga (Kenya/Team Mazda) - 14:15.92
5. Tsuyoshi Ueno (Team JFE Steel) - 14:20.28
-----
26. Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 14:56.29

Women's 5000 m
1. Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso) - 15:38.70
2. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Entertainment) - 15:39.78
3. Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Kenya/Team Uniqlo) - 15:40.12
4. Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:42.20
5. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:42.46
6. Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya) - 15:43.04
7. Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal) - 15:44.56
8. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:48.41
9. Misato Yamaguchi (Team Yamada Denki) - 15:50.03
10. Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 15:53.11

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
54 comments
Read more