Skip to main content

Nov. 22 Tsukuba Marathon Canceled



On Apr. 16 the city government of Tsukuba, Ibaraki just northeast of Tokyo announced that along with two other events in August and September, it was canceling the 40th running of the Tsukuba Marathon scheduled for Nov. 22 due to the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Last year the Tsukuba Marathon had 11,461 finishers with winning times of 2:14:18 for men and 2:46:24 for women, with another 2,002 finishers in its accompanying 10 km.

Tsukuba is the third October/November Japanese marathon with a field of around 10,000 to cancel in the last few weeks, following the Oct. 18 Chiba Aqualine Marathon and the Oct. 25 Mito Komon Manyu Marathon, also in Ibaraki. The Nov. 1 Toyama Marathon and Nov. 8 Fukuoka Marathon, each with a field of over 10,000, both announced last week that they were suspending opening registrations for this year pending decisions about the races could realistically be put on. Tsukuba's Nov. 22 date makes it the farthest away race on the calendar to cancel so far.

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .