March's Tokushima Marathon Canceled

On Feb. 3 the organizing committee for the Tokushima Marathon announced that this year's race, scheduled for Mar. 28, has been canceled. The second year in a row that the event has been called off, the committee's decision to cancel was unanimous. With the national government's decision to extend the state of emergency in ten prefectures and the impending demands of vaccine distribution, the organizing committee felt that it was important to prioritize society's needs and not to ask medical staff to put time and energy toward a marathon. 

The 2300 people already entered will their entry fees completely refunded. They and others will also have the option to run a virtual 42.195 km race whenever they like using the race's official app. With regard to next year's race, prefectural officials commented, "We will monitor the situation surrounding the virus moving forward and evaluate whether the race can be held."

Translator's note: With 11,010 finishers in 2019 Tokushima was one of the last big spring marathons still on Japan's spring calendar. The Nagano Marathon canceled earlier this week, and April's Kasumigaura Marathon is expected to do so in the next day or two. That would leave just the elite-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon and the Nagoya Women's Marathon, which had announced a reduced-scale race alongside its elite race. Given everything else it's hard to see Nagoya going ahead except maybe as an elite-only race again. The spring, 2021 calendar of major Japanese marathon announcements to date, with finisher totals for most recent edition:

2021

Jan. 10 - Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon (10,954) - canceled
Jan. 31 - Katsuta Marathon (10,627) - canceled
Jan. 31 - Osaka International Women's Marathon (61) - took place with limited field size
Feb. 7 - Beppu-Oita Marathon (3,141) - canceled
Feb. 14 - Ehime Marathon (9,554) - canceled
Feb. 14 - Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon (536) - canceled
Feb. 21 - Kyoto Marathon (13,894) - canceled
Feb. 21 - Kochi Ryoma Marathon (10,924) - canceled
Feb. 21 - Kumamoto Castle Marathon (10,444) - canceled
Feb. 21 - Kitakyushu Marathon (9,485) - canceled
Feb. 21 - Okinawa Marathon (7,990) - canceled
Feb. 28 - Shonan International Marathon (16,821) - canceled
Feb. 28 - Himeji Castle Marathon (6,938) - canceled
Feb. 28 - Iwaki Sunshine Marathon (5,259) - canceled
Feb. 28 - Lake Biwa Marathon (191) - scheduled
Mar. 7 - Kagoshima Marathon (9.356) - canceled
Mar. 7 - Tokyo Marathon (151) - postponed to October 17
Mar. 14 - Shizuoka Marathon (9,802) - canceled
Mar. 14 - Nagoya Women's Marathon (96) - scheduled with limited field size

Mar. 21 - Itabashi City Marathon (13,310) - canceled
Mar. 21 - Koga Hanamomo Marathon (8,766) - canceled
Mar. 21 - Saga Sakura Marathon (8.509) - canceled

Mar. 28 - Tokushima Marathon (11,010) - canceled
Mar. 28 - Sakura Marathon (5,614) - canceled
Apr. 18 - Kasumigaura Marathon (10,096) - scheduled
Apr. 18 - Nagano Marathon (8,082) - canceled

source article:

https://www.news24.jp/nnn/news99fnjtspy1eidc5ukc.html

translated by Brett Larner