Mass-Participation Race at Olympic Test Event to be Canceled

In an interview with a source involved in the situation, on Apr. 15 it was learned that the mass-participation 10 km race planned to take place May 5 in Sapporo, Hokkaido as part of the Sapporo Marathon Festival Olympic test event is to be canceled. The official decision is expected soon. The half marathon Olympic test event, a half marathon on the Olympic course with around 160 elite participants, is still scheduled to go ahead. 2500 amateur runners had been entered in the 10 km, which covered one lap of the 10 km northern half of the course for this summer's Olympic marathon.

In response to the increasing numbers of cases of infection with variants of the coronavirus, city and prefectural officials have extended their policy of asking residents of Sapporo to refrain from going out unnecessarily and from traveling to and from other area until May 14. As the Sapporo Marathon Festival's date fell within this period, the decision was made to cancel the mass-participation race.

Translator's note: Last week student leaders at Hokkaido University also delivered a petition with 7,000 signatures to the university protesting the administration's decision to ban all student athletes from competing anywhere while at the same time allowing the Sapporo Marathon Festival mass-participation race to run through the university's campus.

source article: 

https://jp.reuters.com/article/idJP2021041501000859

translated by Brett Larner

special thanks to John Bower for sending this story