Tokyo Marathon

Last updated
Tokyo Marathon
Tokyo Marathon logo.svg
2008 Tokyo Marathon 02.jpg
The 2008 Tokyo Marathon
DateFebruary
Location Tokyo, Japan
Event type Road
Distance Marathon
Established2007(17 years ago) (2007)
Course recordsMen: 2:02:16 (Benson Kipruto, 2024)

Women: 2:15:55 ( Sutume Asefa Kebede , 2024) [lower-alpha 1]
Wheelchair men: 1:20:57 (Marcel Hug, 2023)

Wheelchair women: 1:36:43 (

Contents

Manuela Schär, 2023)
Official site
Participants165 finishers (elite only) (2020) [1]
35,460 finishers (2019) [2]
Athletics current event.svg 2024 Tokyo Marathon

The Tokyo Marathon (東京マラソン, Tōkyō Marason) is an annual marathon sporting event in Tokyo, Japan. It is a World Athletics Platinum Label [3] marathon and one of the six World Marathon Majors. [4] The latest edition of the race took place on 3 March 2024. It is sponsored by Tokyo Metro.

History

The first Tokyo Marathon was held on 18 February 2007. However, years prior to 2007, Tokyo Marathon consisted of two marathons: the Tokyo International Marathon which took place on even years, and Tokyo-New York Friendship International Marathon which took place on odd years. In the inaugural year, 1981, both marathons took place. However, because it was not possible to support two marathons a month apart in the same city, from 1982, the alternating format went into effect.[ citation needed ]

The 2007 marathon was also a representative selection race of the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka. The total number of participants was set at 30,000. Of that, 25,000 people signed up for the marathon, and 5,000 signed up for the 10K run.

Masakazu Fujiwara became the race's first Japanese male winner at the fourth edition. [5]

In February 2014, Dickson Chumba won in a record time of 2:05:42. This was only the second time a runner ran below 2h06 in Japan, after Tsegaye Kebede in Fukuoka Marathon (December 6, 2009). His runner-up, Tadese Tola did also run below 2:06, in a time of 2:05:57. [6]

In January 2020, rock musician Hyde released the song "Believing in Myself" as a single inspired by the event. [7] Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, only elite runners were invited to the 2020 Tokyo Marathon. All other participants were given a deferral to 2021. [8] The prior year's men's winner, Ethiopian Birhanu Legese, successfully defended his title by winning with a time of 2:04:15. In the women's marathon Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter set a new course record, breaking the old one by over two minutes, by winning with a time of 2:17:45; the sixth-fastest women's marathon in the world of all time. [9] [10] [11] [12]

The 2021 Tokyo Marathon was postponed to 17 October 2021 due to the pandemic. It was then postponed again to 6 March 2022; the event was still referred to as the 2021 Tokyo Marathon, and there was no 2022 Tokyo Marathon. [13] [14] [15] Additionally, all overseas runners were barred from competing, with their entries automatically transferred to 2023. [16] [17]

Course

External images
Searchtool.svg Course map of full marathon in 2012 [18]
Searchtool.svg Course map of full marathon in 2017 [19]
Start line at Shinjuku in 2019 Tokyo Marathon - 47269579632.jpg
Start line at Shinjuku in 2019
Full marathon finish line in 2012 2012 Tokyo Marathon finishers.jpg
Full marathon finish line in 2012

2007–2016

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building -> Tokyo Imperial Palace -> Hibiya Park (10 km Finish) -> Shinagawa -> Ginza -> Nihonbashi -> Asakusa -> Tsukiji -> Tokyo Big Sight (Full Marathon Finish)

Passing Tokyo Tower'Zojo-ji in 2010 Tokyo Marathon 2010 Tokyo Tower and Zojoji.jpg
Passing Tokyo Tower'Zōjō-ji in 2010

2017–

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building -> Iidabashi -> Nihonbashi (10 km Finish) -> Asakusa -> Koto (Halfway Point) -> Nihonbashi -> Ginza -> Shinagawa -> Hibiya Park -> Tokyo Station (Full Marathon Finish) [20]

Registration

Passing Ginza's Wako store in 2008 2008 Tokyo Marathon 01.jpg
Passing Ginza's Wako store in 2008

Numbers

When registrations closed for the 2015 Tokyo marathon 308,810 people had applied for the full marathon, and 1,014 had applied for the 10 km race. This gave a total number of 309,824 applicants and an oversubscription rate of 11.3 for the marathon. [21]

Full marathon finish line in 2019 Tokyo Marathon - 32380227397.jpg
Full marathon finish line in 2019

For the 2019 event, there were 331,211 applicants. 330,271 of the applications were for the full marathon and 940 were for the 10 km race. [22]

Elite field

Apart from the invited athletes, runners registered with JAAF who satisfy the following requirement can register in the Elite field. [23]

In 2014, the requirements were:

DistanceMenWomen
Full2:23:002:54:00
Half1:01:301:11:00
10 km28:1032:10

See also

Notes

  1. This was set during the Tokyo Marathon that took place on 6 March 2022, which was postponed from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite taking place in 2022, it was still officially referred to as the 2021 Tokyo Marathon.

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References

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