by Brett Larner
The threat of heavy rain held off for Sunday's 10th edition of the Twilight Games meet at Tokyo's Oda Field, allowing meet records in five of the meet's twenty-three events. Both the men's and women's 1500 m saw new records, the men's by Kanto Regionals 1500 m champion Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) just off his PB in 3:40.84 and the women's via Daito Bunka University ace Chikako Mori, who just held off Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) in the last 100 m for the record in 4:20.24 with Iino 0.23 seconds behind and also under the old record.
The men's 4x100 m and women's 4x400 m relays both saw multiple teams break the record, Chuo University winning the 4x100 m in 39.18 without its star member, 200 m national champion Shota Iizuka, and Nittai University leading four women's 4x400 m teams under the old record in 3:43.75 thanks in large part to a spectacular anchor run from senior Misaki Ishibashi. The men's high jump saw the other record of the day, with pro Taira Omata (Mizuno AC) jumping 2.22 m to defeat a mostly-collegiate crowd.
The big draw of the meet was the men' 100 m, where national champion Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) made an appearance in preparation for the Moscow World Championships. Yamgata lived up to pre-race words that he was not focusing on time after just completing a period of intensive training, easily winning in 10.23 +0.1 m/s as he concentrated on the technical aspects of his race. The meet's other main event, the men's javelin, suffered due to the withdrawal of 2012 national champion and London Olympian Roderick Genki Dean (Waseda Univ.).
Overseas, a large contingent of Japanese men continued their stay on the European summer circuit at Belgium's Memorial Rasschaert meet. 2010 World Half Marathon 9th-placer and former Toyo University star Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) continued his comeback from almost two flat years, taking the top Japanese position in the men's 5000 m in 13:40.46 for 6th. This year's 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) ran 13:46.85 for 8th, just beating Nationals runner-up Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) and Hoshi's former Komazawa University teammate Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) who rounded out the top ten.
In the U.S., two members of the Panasonic women' team made a relatively undistinguished appearance at the Bix 7 road race, Rina Yamazaki taking 8th in 38:16 and steepler Hitomi Nakamura 12th in a weak 40:00. Yamazaki's most noteworthy achievement was beating 2011 Boston Marathon runner-up Desi Davila (U.S.A.), 10th in 38:34 as she returns from a long injury cycle.
10th Twilight Games - Highlights
Oda Field, Tokyo, 7/28/13
click here for complete results
Men's 1500 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 3:40.84 - MR
2. Tsukasa Anzai (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:44.98
3. Shogo Hata (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 3:46.14
4. Yasunori Kusu (Team Komori Corp.) - 3:47.09
5. Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:47.26
Women's 1500 m
1. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:20.24 - MR
2. Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:20.47 (MR)
3. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:21.79
4. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:28.35
5. Natsuno Furuya (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:28.70
Men's 100 m +0.1 m/s
1. Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 10.23
2. Asuka Cambridge (Nihon Univ.) - 10.33
3. Ryo Onabuta (Chuo Univ.) - 10.34
4. Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) - 10.44
5. Takumi Kuki (Waseda Univ.) - 10.50
Women's 4x400 m Relay
1. Nittai Univ. (Nakada/Shiranaga/Watanabe/Ishibashi) - 3:43.75 - MR
2. Chuo Univ. (Shintaku/Sugawara/Hatori/Kira) - 3:44.17 (MR)
3. Tsuru Bunka Univ. (Yamaguchi/Okita/Nishida/Ikejima) - 3:44.50 (MR)
4. Aoyama Gakuin Univ. (Omori/Umemoto/Toki/Nakamura) - 3:44.59 (MR)
5. Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) (Otomo/Muramoto/Tokizawa/Kojima) - 3:48.31
Men's 4x100 m Relay
1. Chuo Univ. (Onabuta/Taniguchi/Naoki/Matsumra) - 39.18 - MR
2. Hosei Univ. (Nishigaki/Oseto/Kobayashi/Ishikawa) - 39.48 (MR)
3. Waseda Univ. (Takei/Naganuma/Kakehata/Tamai) - 40.26
4. Josai Univ. (Suzuki/Honma/Koji/Nakazawa) - 40.32
5. Toyo Univ. (Kozasa/Kobayashi/Arai/Watanabe) - 40.62
Men's High Jump
1. Taira Omata (Mizuno AC) - 2.22 m - MR
2. Naoto Tobe (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.19 m
3. Ryo Sato (Tokai Univ.) - 2.19 m
4. Takaya Sugawara (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 2.10 m
5. Hiroaki Akai (Aichi Meiya Club) - 2.10 m
23rd Memorial Rasschaert Meet
The threat of heavy rain held off for Sunday's 10th edition of the Twilight Games meet at Tokyo's Oda Field, allowing meet records in five of the meet's twenty-three events. Both the men's and women's 1500 m saw new records, the men's by Kanto Regionals 1500 m champion Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) just off his PB in 3:40.84 and the women's via Daito Bunka University ace Chikako Mori, who just held off Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) in the last 100 m for the record in 4:20.24 with Iino 0.23 seconds behind and also under the old record.
The men's 4x100 m and women's 4x400 m relays both saw multiple teams break the record, Chuo University winning the 4x100 m in 39.18 without its star member, 200 m national champion Shota Iizuka, and Nittai University leading four women's 4x400 m teams under the old record in 3:43.75 thanks in large part to a spectacular anchor run from senior Misaki Ishibashi. The men's high jump saw the other record of the day, with pro Taira Omata (Mizuno AC) jumping 2.22 m to defeat a mostly-collegiate crowd.
The big draw of the meet was the men' 100 m, where national champion Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) made an appearance in preparation for the Moscow World Championships. Yamgata lived up to pre-race words that he was not focusing on time after just completing a period of intensive training, easily winning in 10.23 +0.1 m/s as he concentrated on the technical aspects of his race. The meet's other main event, the men's javelin, suffered due to the withdrawal of 2012 national champion and London Olympian Roderick Genki Dean (Waseda Univ.).
Overseas, a large contingent of Japanese men continued their stay on the European summer circuit at Belgium's Memorial Rasschaert meet. 2010 World Half Marathon 9th-placer and former Toyo University star Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) continued his comeback from almost two flat years, taking the top Japanese position in the men's 5000 m in 13:40.46 for 6th. This year's 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) ran 13:46.85 for 8th, just beating Nationals runner-up Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) and Hoshi's former Komazawa University teammate Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) who rounded out the top ten.
In the U.S., two members of the Panasonic women' team made a relatively undistinguished appearance at the Bix 7 road race, Rina Yamazaki taking 8th in 38:16 and steepler Hitomi Nakamura 12th in a weak 40:00. Yamazaki's most noteworthy achievement was beating 2011 Boston Marathon runner-up Desi Davila (U.S.A.), 10th in 38:34 as she returns from a long injury cycle.
10th Twilight Games - Highlights
Oda Field, Tokyo, 7/28/13
click here for complete results
Men's 1500 m
1. Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 3:40.84 - MR
2. Tsukasa Anzai (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:44.98
3. Shogo Hata (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 3:46.14
4. Yasunori Kusu (Team Komori Corp.) - 3:47.09
5. Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:47.26
Women's 1500 m
1. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:20.24 - MR
2. Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:20.47 (MR)
3. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:21.79
4. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:28.35
5. Natsuno Furuya (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:28.70
Men's 100 m +0.1 m/s
1. Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 10.23
2. Asuka Cambridge (Nihon Univ.) - 10.33
3. Ryo Onabuta (Chuo Univ.) - 10.34
4. Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) - 10.44
5. Takumi Kuki (Waseda Univ.) - 10.50
Women's 4x400 m Relay
1. Nittai Univ. (Nakada/Shiranaga/Watanabe/Ishibashi) - 3:43.75 - MR
2. Chuo Univ. (Shintaku/Sugawara/Hatori/Kira) - 3:44.17 (MR)
3. Tsuru Bunka Univ. (Yamaguchi/Okita/Nishida/Ikejima) - 3:44.50 (MR)
4. Aoyama Gakuin Univ. (Omori/Umemoto/Toki/Nakamura) - 3:44.59 (MR)
5. Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) (Otomo/Muramoto/Tokizawa/Kojima) - 3:48.31
Men's 4x100 m Relay
1. Chuo Univ. (Onabuta/Taniguchi/Naoki/Matsumra) - 39.18 - MR
2. Hosei Univ. (Nishigaki/Oseto/Kobayashi/Ishikawa) - 39.48 (MR)
3. Waseda Univ. (Takei/Naganuma/Kakehata/Tamai) - 40.26
4. Josai Univ. (Suzuki/Honma/Koji/Nakazawa) - 40.32
5. Toyo Univ. (Kozasa/Kobayashi/Arai/Watanabe) - 40.62
Men's High Jump
1. Taira Omata (Mizuno AC) - 2.22 m - MR
2. Naoto Tobe (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.19 m
3. Ryo Sato (Tokai Univ.) - 2.19 m
4. Takaya Sugawara (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 2.10 m
5. Hiroaki Akai (Aichi Meiya Club) - 2.10 m
23rd Memorial Rasschaert Meet
Ninove, Belgium, 7/27/13
Men's 5000 m
1. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 13:27.32
2. Bachir Youssouf Hiss (Djibouti) - 13:28.20
3. Bobby Curtis (U.S.A.) - 13:29.79
4. Koen Naert (Belgium) - 13:34.31
5. Olle Wallerang (Sweden) - 13:34.74
6. Tomoya Onishi (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:40.46
7. Soufiane Bouchikhi (Belgium) - 13:43.55
8. Sota Hoshi (Japan/Team Fujitsu) - 13:46.85
9. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:48.05
10. Takuya Fukatsu (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:49.41
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13. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:53.78
16. Minato Oishi (Japan/Team Toyota) - 14:03.14
17. Ryo Kiname Japan/Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 14:09.37
19. Yohei Nishiyama (Japan/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 14:12.23
39th Quad City Times Bix 7
Davenport, Iowa, 7/27/13
Women
1. Sule Utura (Ethiopia) - 36:34
2. Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia) - 36:39
3. Caroline Rotich (Kenya) - 37:02
4. Adrienne Herzog (Netherlands) - 37:06
5. Jane Murage (Kenya) - 37:20
6. Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 37:25
7. Diane Nukuri-Johnson (Burundi) - 37:31
8. Rina Yamazaki (Japan/Team Panasonic) - 38:16
9. Makida Abdela (Kenya) - 38:33
10. Desi Davila (U.S.A.) - 38:34
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12. Hitomi Nakamura (Japan/Team Panasonic) - 40:00
(c) 2013 Brett Larner
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