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

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive