Skip to main content

Wanjiru and Ndiku Lead Oda Memorial Distance Results



Japan's outdoor season rolled on April 28 with the 52nd Oda Memorial Meet, one of the events used in selection for Japan's national team for this summer's Jakarta Asian Games. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Starts) topped the day's results with a 15:08.61 meet record in the Women's Grand Prix 5000 m, easily leaving senior teammate Grace Kimanzi and veteran Ann Karindi (Toyota Jidoshokki) behind to take the top spot.


Dropping a massive PB for 4th, Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) was the first Japanese women in 15:21.31. Longtime readers might remember Yamanouchi as a 17-year-old high schooler from Fukushima casually breaking high school boys' records and running sub-3 marathons for fun. Now 24, she has landed at the Kyocera corporate team under the tutelage of former men's half marathon national record holder and fellow Fukushima native Atsushi Sato. Clearly it's the right place for her.


Current high schooler Naomi Muthoni (Sera H.S.) led the Non-Grand Prix 5000 m in 15:20.14, while first-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) continued a strong transition to the college circuit as she won the U20 5000 m in 15:45.79.

On the men's side, Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) narrowly edged junior teammate Richard Kimunyan for the Grand Prix 5000 m win in 13:34.46. Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) was the first Japanese man across the line at 3rd in 13:37.24. The great Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) had an off day, finishing 7th in only 13:50.33. Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel) took the Non-Grand Prix win in 13:52.35.

52nd Oda Memorial Meet Highlights

Hiroshima, 4/28/18
click here for complete results

Women's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Starts) - 15:08.61 - MR
2. Grace Kimanzi (Starts) - 15:15.65
3. Ann Karindi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:20.24
4. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 15:21.31
5. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 15:34.43
6. Mariam Waithera (Kyudenko) - 15:38.72
7. Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 15:40.47
8. Yukari Ishizawa (Edion) - 15:41.01
9. Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 15:44.35
10. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 15:44.48

U20 Women's 5000 m
1. Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) - 15:45.79
2. Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) - 15:48.82
3. Miku Moribayashi (Denso) - 15:52.58

Women's Non-Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Naomi Muthoni (Sera H.S.) - 15:20.14
2. Tamaki Ichikawa (Yamada Denki) - 15:48.51
3. Yuka Sarumida (Universal Entertainment) - 16:11.98

Men's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:34.46
2. Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:34.86
3. Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 13:37.24
4. John Maina (Fujitsu) - 13:38.79
5. Charles Ndirangu (JFE Steel) - 13:43.83
6. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 13:47.58
7. Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) - 13:50.33
8. Yuki Muta (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:52.34
9. Toshiyuki Yanagi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:57.48
10. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 14:09.19

Men's Non-Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel) - 13:52.35
2. Rei Hashimoto (Mazda) - 13:57.68
3. Patrick Kimani (JFE Steel) - 13:58.24

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

sonny said…
Looks like no video available for the Men's 5000 Grand Prix. Sad face.
May 1, 2018 at 10:13 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more