Skip to main content

2-Time Olympic Medalist Wainaina Wins Lake Saroma 100 km Ultra in Kenyan National Record Time

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010062700268
http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/sports/238878.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/100627/oth1006272249014-n1.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

In his first attempt at the distance, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (Kenya) won the 25th anniversary Lake Saroma 100 km ultramarathon in Hokkaido on June 27. Wainaina, the 1996 Olympic marathon bronze medalist and 2000 silver medalist, covered the certified course in a time of 6:39:52, with runner-up Noriyuki Araki (Wings AC) a short distance behind in 6:41:07. Tokyo-based Emi Matsushita, formerly Emi Iwasaki, took her second-straight and third-ever women's Saroma title with a time of 7:49:31.

Between the 50 km and 100 km divisions 3656 runners started the race. With temperatures reaching 30 degrees, only 1949 were able to complete their distance.

Translator's note: This is genuinely surprising news. Based on what I've been able to track down Wainaina's time is a world leader for 2010 and seems to be a new Kenyan national record. The former national record appears to have been 8:37:15 by Andrew Tumo in 1990. The second newspaper article linked above has a photo of Wainaina at the finish line.
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Ummm...that's 10 40-minute 10Ks. In 30C/86F heat.
Or 2:48 marathon pace x 2.36.

Looking at the list of men's and women's records confirms for me again that Tomoe Abe's 6:33 is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, running performances of all time.
June 28, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Kuroda Conquers the Mountain to Give Aoyama Gakuin the Hakone Ekiden Day One CR Again

After a wild New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships yesterday that saw new CR on 6 of the race's 7 stages and a 7-second miss on the one that wasn't broken, Day One of the 102nd Hakone Ekiden more than lived up to what the pros had done 24 hours earlier. Only one runner, Chuo University 's Yamato Yoshii in 2022, had ever broken 61 minutes for the 21.3 km First Stage , but when Chuo's Daichi Shibata took it out on CR pace the entire field went with him. It took a while for Ageo City Half winner Rui Aoki of Izumo Ekiden champ Koku Gakuin University to move up to the front, but when he did it was decisive. Aoki crushed the CR in 1:00:28, 59:54 half marathon pace, and behind him the next both Shibata and the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team's So Kawasaki from Tsukuba University also went under Yoshii's old 1:00:40 record. 4th through 8th broke 61, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Chuo, KGU, last year's top 2 Aoyama...
4 comments
Read more

GMO Wins First National Title at Era-Changing 2026 New Year Ekiden

Things have really been coming up fast the last year or so in Japanese distance running, but even so this year's New Year Ekiden really felt like the era has changed. GMO took the lead on the second of the race's 7 legs and went on to take over 2 minutes off the overall course record for the 100.0 km course, winning its first national title in 4:44:00. En route 6 of the 7 legs had new CR, a lot of them with multiple people breaking them, and the only leg that didn't, the 12.3 km First Stage, saw Shunpei Tomita of Logisteed run 34:23, only 7 seconds off the CR held by sub-27 Kenyan Martin Mathathi . The level at the collegiate Hakone Ekiden keeps going up up up , and that showed here as 3 of the new stage CR were set by guys in their first season in the corporate leagues who were some of the biggest stars at Hakone last year. Aoyama Gakuin University grad Aoi Ota sneaked in 1 second ahead of Toyota 's Jin Yuasa to set a 46:00 CR on the 15.9 km Fifth Stage. Collegi...
1 comment
Read more