Skip to main content

Eritreans Dominate 250th Nittai University Time Trials

by Brett Larner

With the launch of the Sky Project exchange program earlier this year, Kanagawa prefecture will play host to Eritrean athletes between now and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with Eritrea scheduled to hold its pre-Olympic and Paralympic training camps in the prefecture along Tokyo's southern side.  The Eritreans made their presences felt at the 250th edition of the Nittai University Time Trials meet in suburban Yokohama over the weekend, winning the A-heats of both the men's 5000 m and 10000 m and a number of women featuring in the 5000 m as well.

Four Eritrean women ran the single women's 5000 m heat on Saturday.  With top Japanese track runner Ayuko Suzuki and teammate Hanami Sekine (both Team Japan Post) going 1-2 in 15:26.28 and 15:28.88, Kokob Tesfagaber Solomon and Merhawit Ghide Medhin led the Eritrean contingent in 6th and 7th in 16:18.68 and 16:18.79.  Kokob Ghebru Abraha and Berhane Tesfay Berhe made more of an impact in the men's 10000 m A-heat, also on Saturday, taking the top two spots in 28:38.46 and 28:45.98.

Kokob Ghebru Abraha was back on Sunday for the men's 5000 m A-heat, where Eritrean men took six of the top seven spots.  Teklit Teweldebrhan Tesfable and Awet Habte Gebregi dominated the field, 1st and 2nd in 13:24.13 and 13:24.40, with Kokob 4th another 25 seconds back.  Unknown Yohei Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) was the only runner to break up the Eritrean pack, outrunning Berhane Mehansho Beru for 6th in 13:53.58, a PB by 25 seconds.  The vibe at Nittai, the Tokyo area's main spring and fall track series, is bound to change for the more competitive.

250th Nihon Taiiku University Time Trials
Yokohama, Kanagawa, May 14-15, 2016
click here for complete results

Women's 5000 m
1. Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) - 15:26.28
2. Hanami Sekine (Japan Post) - 15:28.88
3. Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:35.43
4. Tomoka Kimura (Universal Entertainment) - 16:06.76
5. Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) - 16:10.80
6. Kokob Tesfagaber Solomon (Eritrea) - 16:18.68
7. Merhawit Ghide Medhin (Eritrea) - 16:18.79
-----
10. Rahma Mohammed Abas (Eritrea) - 16:48.36
13. Kidanu Teshome Teurde Medhin (Eritrea) - 17:08.01

Men's 10000 m Heat 5
1. Kokob Ghebru Abraha (Eritrea) - 28:38.46
2. Berhane Tesfay Berhe (Eritrea) - 28:45.98
3. Ryo Hashimoto (GMO Athletes) - 29:06.20
4. Saiya Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 29:10.11
5. Hotaka Murofushi (Nittai Univ.) - 29:16.83

Men's 5000 m Heat 16
1. Teklit Teweldebrhan Tesfable (Eritrea) - 13:24.13
2. Awet Habte Gebregi Aberu (Eritrea)  13:24.40
3. Berhane Tsegaye Tekle (Eritrea) - 13:48.87
4. Kokob Ghebru Abraha (Eritrea) - 13:49.16
5. Yohannes Mehansho Teskete (Eritrea) - 13:49.41
6. Yohei Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:53.58
7. Berhane Mehansho Beru (Eritrea) - 13:54.35
8. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/ND Software) - 13:54.71
9. Hiroki Miura (Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:57.73
10. Hiroyoshi Umegae (NTN) - 14:06.60

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...
Post a Comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
12 comments
Read more