Skip to main content

Njuguna Takes National University Half Marathon Title As 361 Break 70 Minutes

by Brett Larner with athlete quotes from Komazawa Univ. website


Click picture for more race photos by Narachan. Additional photos are available here.

The 12th National University Half Marathon took place on Mar. 8 in western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park in conjunction with the 28th Tachikawa Akishima Half Marathon. The race served as both the first qualifier for the men's half marathon team for July's World Student Games in Serbia and the final race for graduating seniors.

Daiichi Kogyo University's Kiragu Njuguna led a large pack of top university runners and a few professionals, gradually edging away to take the win in 1:02:24 with a slim 17 second lead over runner-up Soji Ikeda of Komazawa University. Ikeda, who was captain of this year's ekiden team, commented, "I'm really happy that I ran a good race today. Looking back on the last four years, as captain I didn't want to end with something as bad as this year's Hakone Ekiden. I'm glad it could end this way and I hope it contributes some momentum to next year's team." Ikeda will join Team Yakult following graduation.

Ikeda's teammate Sota Hoshi finished 3rd in 1:02:47, barely escaping being clipped by fast-closing Yoshihiro Wakamatsu of Toyo University, who in turn outkicked his team's star senior Tomoya Onishi. After the race Hoshi said, "I wasn't really worried about anything today because my training has been good lately. Compared to Marugame this felt way better. Still, though, on the hills in the second half my legs got pretty tired."

Onishi, who joins Team Asahi Kasei next month, won a four-way sprint finish for 5th. Losing out in the sprint, 8th place finisher Masaki Ito of Kokushikan University was nevertheless perhaps the biggest story of the day. The 19 year old 1st year took nearly two minutes off his PB to break 1:03 for the first time, clocking 1:02:53.

The first women's selection race for the World Student Games takes place on Mar. 15 at the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon.

Complete results for the 2009 National University Half Marathon are available here. Select the first option from the drop-down menu in the middle of the page and then click the grey button to the right.

2009 National University Half Marathon - Top Finishers
Click each runner's name for a photo of his finish.

1. Kiragu Njuguna (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 1:02:24
2. Soji Ikeda (4th yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:41
3. Sota Hoshi (3rd yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:47
4. Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (4th yr., Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:47 - debut
5. Tomoya Onishi (4th yr., Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:51 - debut
6. Koji Gokaya (3rd yr., Senshu Univ.) - 1:02:52 - debut
7. Yuta Igarashi (2nd yr., Senshu Univ.) - 1:02:52 - debut
8. Masaki Ito (1st yr., Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:02:53 - PB
9. Tomohiro Shiiya (4th yr., Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:02:59 - debut
10. Koji Kobayashi (2nd yr., Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:04 - debut
---
25. Kohei Fujiwara - 1:03:31
50. Naoki Akamine - 1:04:24
100. Shintaro Kawashima - 1:05:25
200. Tsubasa Sotomura - 1:06:51
300. Norihiro Oyamada - 1:08:45
361. Aoi Miyazawa - 1:09:55

(c) 2009 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

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters