Marathon tournament with a series of cancellations and postponements What will happen in the future?
September 18, 22:27
Six months have passed since the Tokyo Marathon, in which the participation of general runners was canceled, but the tournament is still being canceled or postponed in various places.
"I can't wait to cancel all over the place." "I'm a little motivated to practice." Citizen runners also mourn.
What will happen to the marathon event in the future?
(Network news department reporter Risa Komiya, Daisuke Narita, Yasuyo Mabuchi)
Tokyo Marathon that couldn't run
The Tokyo Marathon, which was held on March 1st, made a big difference in the flow of self-restraint in the marathon event.
Two weeks before the event, the largest citizen marathon in Japan, which was scheduled to be attended by about 38,000 people, was hurriedly put off by general runners to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
I (Narita) happened to be elected and it was supposed to be the first marathon event.
The lottery rate for the Tokyo Marathon, where runners from all over the world gather, is about 11 times.
Runners who were supposed to participate will now be entitled to enter the 2021 or 2022 competition.
But after that, there is no sign that the new coronavirus will end.
The e-mail sent from the tournament side to the participants stated that they would like to choose whether they would like to participate in the 2021 or 2022 tournament by the middle of May.
The deadline has been postponed to July and then to August ...
But has become a scheduled next year's tournament so far March 7, the tournament side, in light of such prospects of mitigation held restriction of government of the event, tournament concrete of the prospect of early October I want to decide the content.
Will citizen runners be able to participate in next year's tournament?
Cancellation of tournaments one after another nationwide
Even after the beginning of September, the cancellation of the marathon event has been announced one after another.
▽ Kochi Ryoma Marathon in Kochi Prefecture,
▽ Iwaki Sunshine Marathon in Fukushima Prefecture,
▽ Kaga Onsenkyo Marathon in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Both tournaments will be held after February next year, but we decided to cancel because it was difficult to ensure the safety of the participants.
Runner's sorrowful voice overflowing on the net
"It's too spicy. I hate Corona ..."
"I can't see the
future
. When will this spiral stop?"
"I'm wondering if there will be no more competitions for citizen runners, but I can't stop running."
The net is full of sad voices of citizen runners.
The world's first My Bottle Tournament?
With the spread of the new coronavirus infection, large-scale marathon events have been canceled one after another, and the Shonan International Marathon is aiming to be held in February next year by launching unique infection countermeasures.
Although the number of participants in the Shonan International Marathon has decreased by about 30% compared to the average year, the number of applicants is 18,000, which is the first large-scale marathon to be held since the spread of the infection and has attracted a lot of attention from runners.
The new participation condition is to carry a bottle of water containing 400 ml or more of water and sports drinks.
The aim is to avoid crowding and contact with people at the water supply station.
When the contents of my bottle are exhausted, we have increased the number of water supply stations from 13 to more than 500 so that we can replenish water and sports drinks, and we also supply water at intervals of about 80 meters. Install the vessel.
Start with a time lag
The most important thing to watch out for in the tournament is the crowded starting point.
If all the runners start all at once, there will be a long line before they start running.
For this reason, we devised ways to avoid crowding by setting the running distance and start time width according to the expansion situation.
Depending on the spread of the infection, the mileage will be shortened to 35 km and 30 km to create a start time difference.
The shortest distance is 20km, in which case we set the start time width to 4 hours and set a time lag within this time to start all runners.
The record measures the time from the start of each runner to the goal.
If the new coronavirus converges and a full marathon is possible, the runner will start in 30 minutes.
The Shonan International Marathon will accept entries from citizen runners from September 19, but I would like to make a new decision in December based on the infection situation to see if it will be held as scheduled.
Tournament Secretariat Mr. Shinobu Kurume
"Ultimately, it will be decided as of December, but now I am doing my best to hold it. The first runner in the world to run with my bottle and my cup Let's be
Marathon online
On the other hand, there are more and more "online marathon" competitions where runners can run on their favorite route and at any time using the smartphone app without gathering at the competition.
The Kanazawa Marathon, in which about 30,000 runners from all over the country apply every year, has canceled the tournament scheduled for October 25 due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.
Still, to meet the expectations of runners, I decided to hold the tournament online for the first time.
Wherever you want, when you want
Rather than gathering at the venue, the participating runners will be asked to install a smartphone app called "TATTA" and measure the distance traveled by GPS.
If you run 42.195km between October 10th and November 10th during the tournament, you have completed the tournament.
You can't compete with other participants for time, but you can run multiple times on your favorite route at your favorite time anywhere in the world.
According to the convention secretariat, when we started recruiting participants on the 26th of last month (August), the quota of 5,000 people was filled in just two and a half hours, and more inquiries were received, so we hurriedly recruited an additional 2,000 people. I decided to.
Tournament Secretariat Mr. Narisada Asano
"I was worried that participants would gather at first in the first format, but I am surprised by the response that exceeded expectations."
Online-style competitions have been introduced at many competitions such as the Mt. Fuji Marathon and the Nagano Marathon, and are spreading nationwide.
It is also held overseas by taking measures
Even if the infection is spreading overseas, there are cases where the event is held after taking necessary measures.
The Los Angeles Marathon was held on the west coast of the United States in March, when the infection began to spread around the world.
The U.S. government had declared a public health emergency across the country, and a few days before the convention, local authorities had just expressed concern about the spread of the infection, but decided to host the convention. ..
It is important for participants not to wash their hands or shake hands with other participants before the race.
The cheering spectators kept a distance of at least 1.82 meters and called on them not to share food or drink.
Also, at the Athens Marathon in Greece scheduled for early November, the runners will be divided into two groups and the start will be staggered by one hour.
I asked Akemi Masuda
What will happen to the Japanese citizen marathon in the future?
We asked Akemi Masuda, a sports journalist.
According to Mr. Masuda, there are more tournaments organized by local governments in Japan than overseas, and in addition to the fact that there are many elderly people involved and volunteers, I am sorry that the participation fee cannot be refunded if the tournament is canceled. From my thoughts, there are some cases where the event is postponed.
However, Mr. Masuda points out that he wants us to take proper measures against infectious diseases and devise ways to hold the event with an aggressive attitude rather than defensive measures.
Akemi Masuda
"There are various ways to prevent the so-called" dense ", such as shifting the start time and preventing the changing rooms and toilets from becoming crowded. Since the risk does not disappear, we will thoroughly take measures against infectious diseases with" with corona ". It is important to run the tournament while coexisting. "
Finally, Mr. Masuda gave a message to the citizen runners who could not easily participate in the tournament.
Akemi Masuda
"Athletes haven't been able to participate in the competition for a long time, but when it comes to competition, they have set a lot of world records. Instead of lamenting that there is no match, they have a lot of time for the next competition. I want you to take this as an opportunity to become stronger and explode the feeling of exhaustion that you cannot play in the next tournament. "