Skip to main content

Ongori, Wangui, Mumbi, Mogusu and Gitau to Run Ras Al Kaimah Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

Five Japan-based Kenyans are scheduled to compete in the Feb. 20 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates, a race which in only its third running is well on its way to become one of the world's premier events.

University ekiden circuit rivals Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) and Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.) will face each other in the men's race alongside nearly a dozen men with half marathon times under the hour mark. Mogusu, who clocked three sub-hour times within Japan in 2007, made his international debut at last year's 2nd Ras Al Khaimah but finished disappointingly down the field in 5th place with a time of 1:00:35. This year's race will be Gitau's international debut.

In the women's race, Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren) leads the way after running the fastest time in the world last year with her 1:07:57 win at the 2008 Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon. Julia Mumbi (Team Aruze) and Lucy Wangui Kabuu will join her. Mumbi won the 2008 Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon and was 2nd behind Mizuki Noguchi at the 2008 Sendai Half Marathon, while Wangui's most recent half marathon mark was a 1:12:01 at the 2007 Osaka Half Marathon.

2008 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon Elite Field
Men
Patrick Makau (Kenya) - 58:55
Paul Kosgei (Kenya) - 59:07
Deriba Merga (Ethiopia) - 59:15
Wilson Kiprotich (Kenya) - 59:16
Francis Kibiwott (Kenya) - 59:26
Wilson Chebet (Kenya) - 59:33
Tilahun Regassa (Ethiopia) - 59:34
John Kiprotich (Kenya) - 59:44
Charles Munyeki (Kenya) - 59:44
Joseph Maregu (Kenya) - 59:45
Mekubo Moguso (Kenya) - 59:48
Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) - 59:52
Daniel Gitau (Kenya) - 59:58*

Women
Edith Masai (Kenya) - 1:07:16
Philes Ongori (Kenya) - 1:07:57
Aselefech Mergia (Ethiopia) - 1:08:17
Julia Mombi (Kenya) - 1:08:31
Lidia Cheromei (Kenya) - 1:08:35
Gladys Cherono (Kenya) - 1:09:36
Lucy Wangui Kabuu (Kenya) - 1:09:45
Teyba Erkesso (Ethiopia) - 1:09:45
Pauline Wangui (Kenya) - 1:09:49
Magdalene Makunzi (Kenya) - 1:09:58

*Note: Gitau's agents Peak Sports Management credit him with a time of 59:58.97 in Ageo on 8/20/07, but the IAAF, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Association and Nihon University do not include the mark on their lists of Gitau's achievements. The date in question was a Monday at the peak of the Japanese summer, a truly incredible performance if the mark is not an error like Peak Sports Management's listing of Daniel as having run in the professional-only New Year Ekiden on Jan. 1, 2008 rather than the Jan. 2 Hakone Ekiden. Peak Sports Management did not respond to a request for verification of the listed result. Gitau's time of 1:07:02 on the 23.2 km 2nd stage of the 2009 Hakone Ekiden, his best to date, was equivalent to a 1:00:58 half marathon.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Brett Larner said…
I know that both spellings are used, but her official IAAF profile lists her as 'Julia Mumbi Muraga.'
TokyoRacer said…
That's a hell of a field. Enough to make you want to hop on a plane and go watch it. I hope someone from Flotrack is there with a camera.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters