Skip to main content

Nov. 3 Gunma Marathon Plans to Go Ahead


The organizing committee of the 31st Gunma Marathon, canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, have made the decision to go ahead with this year's race, with both the 10 km and marathon divisions scheduled to be held on Nov. 3 in Maebashi and Takasaki, Gunma. The overall field size will be reduced from 15,000 to 9,000, and the Riverside Jogging fun run, where it is harder to employ countermeasures against the spread of the virus, will not be held. Online entries will begin at 10:00 a.m. on July 4.

The marathon will feature a field of 5,000, with another 4,000 places available in the 10 km. Both divisions will start and finish at Shoda Shoyu Stadium in Maebashi and follow their traditional courses, and both races will start in waves of 1,000 people to reduce runner density on the course. 

As additional measures to reduce risk, no celebrity guests will be invited and no stage shows or other supporting events will take place. Runners will be required to wear masks before and after the race, and family members, supporters and locals will be asked not to come to the start or finish areas or to cheer along the course.

Translator's note: In comparison to the Gunma Marathon's optimistic decision to go ahead with this year's race, the Nov. 21 Kobe Marathon announced on May 31 that this year's race will be canceled over COVID-19 concerns. By some estimates Japan is expected to hit 50% vaccination by November.

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...