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1301 People Scratch From Kaga Onsenkyo Marathon After PCR Testing Requirement Added

More than 1300 entrants have withdrawn from the Apr. 17 Kaga Onsenkyo Marathon in Ishikawa since organizers announced that a negative PCR test would be required from all participants as part of the event's measures against the coronavirus pandemic. People who had planned to run the race have complained about the new policy, which was enacted by the local city government.

At the city council's Education and Civil Welfare Committee meeting on Apr. 8, the city reported on the event's status with regard to cancelations as of that morning. Out of 3,178 entrants in the full marathon division, almost a quarter, 810 people, had canceled. In the 10 km, nearly a third, 491 out of 1415 people, had withdrawn.

The Kaga city government, which organizes the race, changed the policy to require PCR tests following the cancelation of a partial state of emergency and the resulting countermeasures in Ishikawa prefecture on Mar. 21. The race's guidelines had already required that participants show proof of "two vaccination shots, or a negative PCR or antigen test result," but to enhance the safety of both the runners and race officials this was upgraded to require "a negative PCR test result within the 3 days before the race."

However, there is a nationwide shortage of PCR testing kits, and there is no guarantee that results will be returned in time even if tests are taken at pharmacies. The race organizers were flooded by calls from angry and frustrated runners after the announcement. In response they made arrangements for a private PCR testing center to handle entrants' testing, but due to the planning necessary the application period was very short, lasting only from Apr. 1 to Apr. 5. The organizers also made the decision to offer partial refunds, and to extend the cancelation deadline from the original date of Mar. 28 right up to race day.

One entrant, a 59-year-old office worker from Kanazawa who canceled his plans to run what would have been his fourth time at the race, was very disappointed, saying, "When the requirements for taking part in the race were changed no guidance was given on PCR testing, which meant it was up to each of us to wade through the bureaucracy on our own to figure it out. That kind of killed my motivation to run. It's too bad, as I'd really been looking forward to this race happening again after being canceled the last two years."

A spokesperson for the city's Sports Department commented, "There are residents of the city who are worried about the event taking place at all, so we had to err on the side of safety and security. We're very sorry that the outcome for runners wasn't everything that they might have hoped for."

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

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