Yahoo News Another marathon has been cancelled due to coronavirus
Earlier this week, race organisers restricted entry to the Tokyo Marathon to elite runners, cancelling the race for 38,000 people, due to health and safety fears surrounding the spread of coronavirus. An official statement read, “We have been preparing for the Tokyo Marathon 2020 (Sunday, March 1) while implementing preventive safety measures, however, now that case of COVID-19 has been confirmed within Tokyo, we cannot continue to launch the event within the scale we originally anticipated.”
Since the news, Mayor Martin Walsh, has dismissed the idea that the Boston Marathon would be affected and head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Yoshiro Mori, said cancelling the Olympics “has not been considered”.
Today, Friday 21 February, it has been announced another marathon will be cancelled due to coronavirus fears. The Nagoya Women’s Marathon and the Nagoya City Marathon, both scheduled for Sunday 8 March in Tokyo, have been cancelled. The Women’s Marathon will be open for elite runners, while the City Marathon will be cancelled completely.
The events were due to attract 40,000 runners, but organisers were concerned that the marathons would create large crowds, with close proximity between spectators and runners. Japan has been the subject of media attention since the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined off Yokohama for two weeks. More than 600 people became infected on the ship and two have died.
In a statement on the Nagoya Women’s Marathon website, organisers said, “Much to our regret, we reached a conclusion that it is extremely difficult to stage a safe and secure event that all runners can participate without worries. Therefore, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2020 will be held only for those registered as elite athletes.”
Both the Nagoya Women’s Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon are Olympic qualifying events for Japanese marathon runners. Similar to Tokyo, Nagoya organisers have said participation fees will not be refunded, but that runners are free to take part in an “online marathon”, which they could track on various apps and receive commemorative items for their race by mail.
It remains to be seen whether more large-scale races and sporting events will be cancelled due to coronavirus fears.
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