Skip to main content

Local Residents Ask for Cancellation of Lake Saroma 100 km Over Foot and Mouth Disease Fears

http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/donai/236194.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Out of fears of the foot and mouth disease which has broken among livestock on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu reaching their local stocks, local residents and agricultural corporation representatives asked town officials in Yubetsu on the northernmost island of Hokkaido on June 10 to cancel the 25th anniversary Lake Saroma 100 km ultramarathon. 3617 runners from across the nation are entered to compete in the event which is scheduled for June 27. Local official Yuji Tomozawa commented, "We've had more and more calls every day from local ranchers and residents asking that the race be cancelled," in explaining the request for the event's cancellation.

Although half the 100 km course is within the municipality of Yubetsu, it also passes through the towns of Kitami and Saroma. A number of cattle ranches and barns are located along the route. Local agricultural cooperative official Naohito Noda told reporters, "We are asking for the race to be cancelled out of concern for farmers in the rest of the country. With so many runners coming here, if there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease while they were here we are afraid they would spread it across the country."

In response to the request, Yubestu General Committee executive Masahiro Kato commented, "I would like to discuss this with my counterparts in Kitami and Saroma. Kitami mayor Tsuneki Kotani made a statement on June 10, saying, "Since the race course is officially certified we cannot change it. I would like to cooperate with the involved municipalities." Officials are examining the possibility of relocating portable toilet facilities onto the roadway so that runners would not need to walk upon local soil as well as the feasibility of covering road surfaces with a disinfectant material.

Translator's note: Last month's Oda Memorial T&F Meet and this month's Ironman Japan triathlon, both located in Kyushu, were both cancelled out of fears of competitors bringing infected soil to the race area on their shoes. Lake Saroma would be the third major event to be cancelled, along with a number of smaller, amateur-level races. The upcoming Sapporo International Half Marathon and Hokuren Distance Challenge series of meets may also be in jeopardy of cancellation.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...