Skip to main content

On Crutches, Yamanashi Gakuin's Omwamba Says "I'm Sorry"

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20140103-OHT1T00183.htm

translated by Brett Larner

click here for a follow-up on Omwamba and Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.



Having dropped out of the Hakone Ekiden's Second Stage after sustaining a stress fracture in his right shin, Yamanashi Gakuin University second-year Enock Omwamba appeared at the team's post-race assembly on crutches to address the rest of the team. Speaking in Japanese, he told them, "I'm sorry." Bowing countless times to the assembled teammates, alumni and university booster club members he swore to make up for it next year, telling them, "I will do my best in the season to come."

Despite the tragic end to Yamanashi Gakuin's season, Omwamba's bond with the rest of the team was clear.  "Everybody has told me, 'Don't lose hope, don't quit running.'  That has made me very glad.  I've come to understand that in the ekiden you share in both the joy and the sadness."  He expressed his thanks to his teammates who completed the 109.9 km Day Two course in 5:35:23, a time that would have put them 9th, despite having been eliminated from the competition by Omwamba's DNF.  On Jan. 4 he was scheduled to undergo further medical examination.  "I hope to be running again in about three weeks," he said, already looking toward next year.

Comments

Unknown said…
I can't wait to see his run next year. I have a feeling he's going to rip that course apart!

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