Ndiku Leads Weekend Track Results in Setagaya

by Brett Larner
video by Ekiden News

Two-time World Junior Championships 3000 mSC gold medalist Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) led the weekend's track results, running just off his six-year-old 5000 m PB to win Tokyo's Setagaya Time Trials 5000 m A-heat by a wide margin in 13:13.16. Ndiku outran all competition by more than 13 seconds, leading 22 men under 14 minutes including 7 other Japan-based Africans. 22-year-old Shota Shinjo (Team Honda) was the top Japanese man at 9th in 13:45.45, like Ndiku just missing his PB.

Southwest of Tokyo at the 70th anniversary National Sports Festival in Wakayama, this year's 10000 m national champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) won a close race over 5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and top collegiate Rina Nabeshima (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.), outkicking them by 0.7 seconds to take the national title in 15:33.51. Onishi held off Nabeshima in a photo finish for 2nd, 15:34.21 to 15:34.23.

In the junior men's 5000 m, Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.), 13:50.51 at age 16 and 8:01.95 for 3000 m last month just after his 17th birthday and after finishing 5th as the top non-African in the 3000 m at July's World Youth Championships, let go with a hard kick over the last lap to drop Kenyan John Kariuki (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and top Japanese rivals including Shota Onizuka (Omuta H.S.) for the win in 14:09.21.

Setagaya Time Trials
Kinuta Park Field, Tokyo, Oct. 3, 2015
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Heat 21
1. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:13.16
2. Joseph Chacha (Subaru) - 13:26.25
3. Samuel Mwangi (Konica Minolta) - 13:27.66
4. John Maina (Fujitsu) - 13:31.24
5. Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) - 13:32.51
6. Joseph Mumo (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:36.66
7. Joseph Onsarigo (ND Software) - 13:39.50
8. Mamiyo Nuguse (Yasukawa Denki) - 13:42.46
9. Shota Shinjo (Honda) - 13:45.45
10. Kei Fumimoto (Kanebo) - 13:47.65

National Sports Festival
Kimiidera Park Field, Wakayama, Oct. 2-6, 2015
click here for complete results

Senior Women's 5000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) - 15:33.51
2. Misaki Onishi (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:34.21
3. Rina Nabeshima (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 15:34.23
4. Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:34.59
5. Moeno Nakamura (Universal Entertainment) - 15:36.10
6. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 15:38.53
7. Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 15:42.72
8. Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) - 15:58.19
9. Yuko Kikuchi (Hokuren) - 16:04.60
10. Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 16:15.21

Junior Men's 5000 m
1. Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 14:09.21
2. Kakeru Nakamura (Saikyo H.S.) - 14:10.34
3. Shota Onizuka (Omuta H.S.) - 14:11.40
4. John Kariuki (Aomori Yamada H.S.) - 14:11.83
5. Tomoki Ota (Hamamatsu Nittai Prep H.S.) - 14:12.32
6. Kazuya Nishiyama (Tonodai Prep Daini H.S.) - 14:14.37
7. Yuta Kanbayashi (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:14.86
8. Jun Kato (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:15.34
9. Junnosuke Matsuo (Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 14:16.98
10. Takato Suzuki (Ryutsu Keizai Prep Kashiwa H.S.) - 14:24.71

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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