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
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