Toyama and Fukuoka Marathons Suspend Opening Entries

Set to stage its sixth edition this year, the Toyama Marathon has postponed opening entries. The race is scheduled to be held Nov. 1. Priority runner entries were to open on Apr. 11 with general division entries opening on Apr. 25. But with no official position established yet as to whether the race will go ahead amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, the prefectural government made the decision to postpone opening entries that require payment of entry fees. The prefecture currently plans to open entries sometime in early May, with further information to be announced on the race website.

At the same time, the organizing committee of the Nov. 8 Fukuoka Marathon's seventh edition likewise announced on Apr. 9 that they were postponing opening entries and volunteer recruitment due to the coronavirus situation. Both were scheduled to begin on Apr. 13. With regard to a new opening date, an official from the organizing committee commented, "We continue to monitor the status of the virus' spread and will make an announcement on the race website when a decision has been made."

Translator's note: These announcements follow yesterday's announcement that the Oct. 25 Mito Komon Manyu Marathon's cancelation due to organizers' determination that it would be impossible to organize a large fall marathon in the current situation, and the earlier cancelation of the Oct. 18 Chiba Aqualine Marathon due to the economic impact of the coronavirus on sponsor companies. 

In their last editions the Chiba Aqualine Marathon had a total of 13,909 finishers with 9541 in the full marathon division, the Mito Komon Manyu Marathon had 12,914 finishers with 9995 in the marathon, the Toyama Marathon had 12,603 finishers and the Fukuoka Marathon had 11,349 finishers.

source article:
https://news.bbt.co.jp/topics_detail.phtml?Record_ID=36fd13214a5f7fc0d935d49e75ed3094
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200409-00010011-nishispo-spo
translated and edited by Brett Larner