Saitama International Marathon Kotoshi held to see off January 22 3:58
The Saitama International Marathon, which has been held as a selection race for the marathon women's women's national team in the Olympics and the World Championships, is held by Saitama City and the Japan Athletics Federation. We have found that we have decided to postpone the event.
The Saitama International Marathon is the first marathon event in Saitama Prefecture to be officially approved by the World Federation of Saitama, which began in 2015, taking over the Yokohama International Women's Marathon, which ended due to financial difficulties, and has been held at the end of each year. .
However, more and more top-level athletes in the country have forgotten to participate because it is difficult to achieve a good record due to the many ups and downs on the course, and last month's competition was a target race competing over the remaining one frame of the Tokyo Olympics Marathon Women's Japan National Team Despite this, only one invited player from the country participated.
According to the parties involved, the organizers said that it would be difficult to maintain the national selection race as the participation of influential players did not increase and the attention to the tournament did not increase, as usual, spending over 700 million yen And decided to forego holding a Kotoshi event.
However, since it is the largest marathon event in the prefecture, with nearly 20,000 people participating every year, including general runners, the organizers are considering to implement it as a citizen marathon from next year.
About the Saitama International Marathon
The Saitama International Marathon was launched in 2015, taking over from the Yokohama International Women's Marathon, which ended in 2014 due to financial difficulties.
Five organizers, including Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, and the Japan Athletics Federation, have been held five times until last month with a total project cost of about 700 million yen.
This is a competition recognized by the World Land Federation, an athletics international sports organization, that meets the criteria of top-level athletes participating more than a certain level, and has been held as one of the selection races for the Marathon Women's Japan National Team in the Olympics and World Championships .
It is also the largest marathon event in Saitama Prefecture that general runners can participate in, and last month, more than 17,000 people ran.
However, depending on the people involved, operating costs such as security costs are increased because major national roads with heavy traffic are usually regulated for a long time, but access from the Tokyo metropolitan area is good, so accommodation before and after the tournament Some people pointed out that "the economic ripple effect on the area is limited" because there are few people who do it.
High difficulty Major players are shunned
The Saitama International Marathon starts and ends at "Saitama Super Arena" in Chuo-ku, Saitama City, and is a course around Saitama City and Koshigaya City. It was pointed out that the difficulty was high.
For this reason, the management has been reviewing the course almost every year, such as changing the uphill slope at the end of the race to a nearly flat road.
Under these circumstances, the races of 2017 and 2018 were competitions for girls' participation in the marathon grand championship (MGC), a marathon representative selection race at the Tokyo Olympics.
In consideration of the difficulty of the course, the Japan Athletic Federation delayed the standard record for the Saitama International Marathon by one minute compared to the Osaka International Women's Marathon and the Nagoya Women's Marathon, but many of the leading athletes did not participate. As a result, none of the Japanese athletes participated in the event, and no athlete won the right to participate in the Saitama International Marathon for two consecutive years.
Last December's tournament was the first match of the MGC Final Challenge for the remaining one frame of the women's national team at the Tokyo Olympics, but only one invited Japanese top-level athlete participated.
On the other hand, in the second round of the MGC Final Challenge held on January 26, the Osaka International Women's Marathon will be attended by 10 Japanese invited athletes, and the Saitama International Marathon will be shunned by leading players. I can tell you.