Olympic Test Race Half Marathon Officially Scheduled for May 5

The race committee for the Tokyo Oympics marathon and race walking events met last week in Sapporo. The courses for both events are undergoing fine-tuning to be officially certified by World Athletics. The planned test event for the marathon was also officially set for May 5 under the name Hokkaido Sapporo Marathon Festival 2021.

There have been no major changes to the courses as measured in October. The marathon course will start at Odori Park and cover a roughly 20 km loop through the city of Sapporo before repeating two circuits of the loop's northern half, the only minor adjustment being a 46.67 m shift of the starting line.  Some of the turnaround points on the race walking course have had their radius increased from 4 m to 8 m, making for broader turns.

With regard to the marathon test race, plans call for it to consist of an elite half marathon with 80 men and 80 women, as well as a mass-participation 10 km with a field of 2,500. As the half marathon covers almost the entire Olympic marathon course, there will be no marathon held at the test event. A decision about whether to go ahead with the 10 km race will be made before entries open in early February, taking into account the status of the coronavirus crisis and including the possibility of limiting it to residents of Hokkaido. Organizing committee deputy chair Yasuo Mori commented, "Since this was decided in October we've been asking everyone involved to make the impossible happen. This is a big step in the right direction." 

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translated by Brett Larner