japan running news

On Sept. 1 the Koga Hanamomo Marathon in Koga, Ibaraki announced that its 10th running, scheduled for Mar. 12, 2023, has been postponed one year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In its last running in 2019, Koga Hanamomo had 8,766 finishers in its marathon, with additional numbers in its accompanying shorter races bringing its finisher total to more than 10,000. In a Facebook post race organizers wrote, "With the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic's 7th wave we have made the determination that it would not be possible to guarantee the kind of medical support system necessary for the race to go ahead. We thank you for your understanding. Details on an alternative event and other new information will be posted on the race website." A longer official announcement of the race's "one-year postponement" in Japanese can be found here. This news comes shortly after the organizers of the similar-sized Shizuoka Marathon announced their event was being discont...

The 2021 Kyoto Marathon will take a step in a new direction and will be held as on online-only marathon. By using an app on their phones, runners can run the online marathon whenever and wherever they like. To date 142,347 runners have traversed the streets of Kyoto and smiled at it riches, and we're grateful to every one of them. We extend our thanks to each of you, and to all those who have played a role in making our event possible. In return, we want to give something back and hope that the online marathon will motivate you all and serve as a bridge across these troubled coronavirus times to a better day to come. Even if we can't be together in Kyoto, our hearts are still as one. Think of Kyoto with each step you run and let this new kind of marathon give you strength to reach your tomorrow. We'll also be holding a running event at the marathon's start point at Nishi-Kyogoku Sports Park on its original date, February 21, 2020. Details on both it and the onlin...