Runner collides with pedestrian

by Brett Larner

At around 08.30 on 22 September during the Sapporo Toyohiragawa Trial Marathon held on a cycling course 32-year-old amateur runner Saeki Makino collided with local resident Toshiko Ishiyama, 82, who was walking on the course.

Ishiyama was knocked down and sustained serious injuries including a broken left wrist.

An absence of course markings left the course open for pedestrians to enter it freely, Local police are examining the organisers’ operations. According to the police, Makino claimed that at the time of the accident there were other runners around him, saying, “She was right in front of me before I noticed her and I couldn’t avoid the collision.”