Mass participation Fukuoka Marathon cancelled

by Brett Larner

In the light of the coronavirus’s constantly changing impact and the difficulty of assessing the future situation, the organisers of the 2020 Fukuoka Marathon, scheduled for 8 November have cancelled the race.

Translator Brett Larner adds: This is the mass-participation Fukuoka Marathon, not December’s elite Fukuoka International Marathon. The Fukuoka Marathon had earlier suspended opening entries for this year’s race as it assessed the feasibility of staging a race with a field of over 10,000 given the current circumstances.

The 1 November Toyama Marathon and 29 November Osaka Marathon have likewise suspended opening registrations. The 18 October Chiba Aqualine Marathon, 25 October Mito Komon Manyu Marathon and 22 November Tsukuba Marathon have cancelled outright. All of these races have fields of 10,000 to 15,000 except Osaka, which last year had 31,594 finishers to rank it among the world’s ten biggest marathons.