The Oct. 31 Kanazawa Marathon was the first, with 9,457 finishers and winning times of 2:17:03 by Junichi Ushiyama and an excellent 2:35:52 PB by 47-year-old Mai Fujisawa.
On the Nov. 3 public holiday, the Gunma Marathon in Maebashi returned for its 31st running. 3,408 people finished, Taku Fujiwara winning the men's race in 2:23:14 and Tomomi Sawahata winning for the fifth time in a course record 2:37:02.
The same day as New York, 8,880 people finished the 6th edition of the Toyama Marathon within its 7-hour limit. Hiroki Sugawa won the men's race for the second time in 2:19:53, while Mitsuko Hirose, like Kanazawa winner Fujisawa 47 years old, scored a third win in the women's race in 2:44:32.
Also Sunday, the Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon in Yamaguchi, the first of them to announce that it would go ahead for sure, held its 15th running, with a total of 4,308 people finishing. Keiichiro Tomomori set a course record 2:22:21 to win the men's race, with Chika Yokota winning the women's race for the third time in 2:49:25. Off a 1:24:17 first half 63-year-old Mariko Yugeta, the first woman 60 or older to break 3 hours in the marathon, ran 3:01:17, taking 6:31 off the previous single-age record.
Since the mass-participation Tokyo Marathon launched in 2007 Japan has seen a massive boom in both the number of people running and the number of new marathons in almost every mid- to large-sized city. One effect of the pandemic that we might be in the process of seeing is exposure of the fact that this might have been a bubble to some extent. Local politics and sponsor issues factor heavily in a race's decision to go ahead, but one other aspect that seems to be coming to light is which races are being put on by people who really have a passion for what they're doing and which were simply economic vehicles or a result of the social pressure of every other city on the map having a big marathon. Some of these races will thrive, but it won't be a surprise to see many never come back.
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