On July 24 the organizing committee of September's Nagoya Asian Games announced the courses for the marathon and race walk events. The marathon will cover two laps of a roughly 20 km course starting and finishing at Paloma Mizuho Stadium. Athletes will turn right at Mizuho Sports Park West after leaving the stadium and then enter the 20 km loop. The course heads north along the same roads used for the Nagoya Women's Marathon, then turns left at Uchiyama-cho. From there it turns right at Sakuradori Otsu near the Nagoya TV tower, then makes a U-turn at Meijo Park before returning to Mizuho Sports Park West.
Although there is minimal elevation change overall, there are some undulations in front of Nagoya City Hall, a key section of the Nagoya Women's Marathon, that are sure to play a critical role in how the Asian Games races unfold.
The race walk events will be held on a 1 km loop in the area of Nagoya City Hall, Nagoya Castle, and Aichi Prefectural Government building. A test event was held on the loop in February, and preparations for the main event are well underway. The Asian Games half marathon race walk will be held on Sept. 23, with the marathon distance walk on Sept. 27 with both men and women starting together. The marathons happen Sept. 26, with men starting at 7:30 a.m. and women at 7:50 a.m.
Comments