Skip to main content

Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon Discontinued


A statement published by the organizers of the Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon on their race website. JRN's Mika Tokairin was involved with the organization of the first edition in 2017, and we traveled to the tsunami-hit areas that year to see the race. Read Tokairin's article on it here.

In 2017 we launched the Tohoku Miyagi Fukko [reconstruction] Marathon along the coastal areas impacted by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami as part of an effort to support recovery and redevelopment of the area. Along the way there were cancelations due to typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic, but even so the race returned in 2023 and 2024 with over 10,000 runners from all 47 of Japan's prefectures and from abroad. Participants praised the course, which let them see the progress of the ongoing recovery, the aid stations full of local flavor, and the warm hospitality of the volunteers.

The support and cooperation of a wide range of people and organizations, including local government, police, the fire department, medical personnel, local residents, volunteers and sponsors, made it all possible. We could not be more grateful toward every one of them.

But at the same time, costs continue to spiral upward, making it increasingly expensive to stage the race. Continuing to hold it means major steps in increasing revenue and reducing expenses. We have no intention of placing the financial burden on participants, or increasing safety risks, and we do not want cutting expenses to end up meaning a reduction in our support for reconstruction, which was the original purpose of having this race. After carefully considering the situation from all angles we have decided that it would be too much for our broadcast partner to shoulder most of the weight in hosting the event, and so it is with heavy hearts that we have made the decision to discontinue the Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon.

We apologize to everyone who was a part of the event in the past and to everyone looking forward to future editions that we are not able to live up to your expectations.

The light shone upon the area by the Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon has gone out, but our core motivation of contributing to the area's recovery from the 2011 disasters remains undimmed. The lessons and knowhow we have gained in the years we staged this race will enable us to continue to help the local community in other ways. It is our hope that what you all felt and experienced through our event will remain in your hearts, that that will help save lives in future disasters, and that help stricken areas with their own recovery.

We apologize for the sudden announcement, but we thank you all for your understanding.

Organizing Committee, Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon


photos © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...
1 comment
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more