http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/ibaraki/news/20151111-OYTNT50379.html
translated by Brett Larner
The Tsukuba Marathon in Tsukuba, Ibaraki will feature the country's first wave start system at its 35th running on Nov. 22, staggering the race's start based on entrants' declared times. The move is intended to reduce congestion and risk of falling at the start, and experts from Tsukuba University will study its effects.
Currently, almost all domestic Japanese marathons feature a single start. In many races with 10,000 or more entrants it can take more than 10 minutes for the last runners to cross the start line. Official results utilize gross time, the time from the starting gun to when the runner crosses the finish line, but with the growth of mass participation the large discrepancy between gross time and net time, a runner's actual time from the start line to the finish line as determined by timing chips, has become an increasing problem. Another is that the congestio…
translated by Brett Larner
The Tsukuba Marathon in Tsukuba, Ibaraki will feature the country's first wave start system at its 35th running on Nov. 22, staggering the race's start based on entrants' declared times. The move is intended to reduce congestion and risk of falling at the start, and experts from Tsukuba University will study its effects.
Currently, almost all domestic Japanese marathons feature a single start. In many races with 10,000 or more entrants it can take more than 10 minutes for the last runners to cross the start line. Official results utilize gross time, the time from the starting gun to when the runner crosses the finish line, but with the growth of mass participation the large discrepancy between gross time and net time, a runner's actual time from the start line to the finish line as determined by timing chips, has become an increasing problem. Another is that the congestio…