Skip to main content

Nov. 3 Hiroshima International Peace Marathon Canceled Over Coronavirus Worries: "Safety First"

Scheduled to happen Nov. 3 with a field of over 10,000 runners, the Hiroshima International Peace Marathon has been canceled for the third year in a row due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The event's organizing committee announced the news saying, "While there are signs that activities within society are beginning to return, there is still uncertainty about the future course of the pandemic, and in our determination it would be difficult to put on an event with over 10,000 participants in a way that could guarantee the safety of all those involved."

The Hiroshima International Peace Marathon starts and finishes at Balcom BMW Stadium in western Hiroshima, running around the Commerce and Industry Center. Over 10,000 runners from across the country take part across the event's 10 km, 5 km, 1 km and wheelchair 5 km divisions, but since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 it has now been canceled for three straight years.

Translator's note: The Hiroshima Carp baseball team's home stadium, Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima, seats 33,000 people. From June 1-5 it hosted a 5-day run of games, playing the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on June 1-2 and the Orix Buffaloes from June 3-5. 37 more games are scheduled at the stadium between now and the end of September. The 35,000-capacity Edion Stadium Hiroshima, home to the Sanfrecce Hiroshima soccer team, most recently held a match against the Nagoya Grampus team on May 28 and is scheduled to host another 8 matches between now and the end of October.

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and