Affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, the organizing committee of the Kyoto Marathon recommended that Chinese residents “avoid” participating in the competition and extend their qualification to 2021 free of charge.
Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, February 16 (Reporter Prince Jiang, Yang Guang) the Kyoto Marathon in Japan ended on the 16th. Only 28 of 386 applicants living in China participated in the competition.
Affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, the organizing committee of the Kyoto Marathon recommended that Chinese residents “avoid” participating in the competition and extend their qualification to 2021 free of charge.
Wang Yong, a marathon enthusiast living in Beijing, originally planned to participate in the competition, but after receiving the notice from the organizing committee, he decided to withdraw from the competition. While expressing his regret, he also expressed his understanding of the decision of the organizing committee. He told the reporter on the phone: “After several coordination, the organizing committee postponed the quota of our runners who signed up from China to next year, which is very popular. Next year, we must arrange a holiday in advance to complete such a marathon of cultural crossing.”
The Organizing Committee of the Kyoto Marathon revealed that about 16000 people signed up this year and finally 15521 participants. This year, there were 2114 overseas applicants, and finally 994 people participated in the competition.
An official of the organizing committee said in an interview with ASAHI News: “affected by the outbreak of covid-19 and bad weather, more people withdrew this year than in previous years.”
The organizing committee prepared more than 30000 masks for contestants and staff on the same day. After the competition, the organizing committee of the competition issued a statement on the official website, announcing the “complete ending” of the competition “.
The Kyoto Marathon was not the only marathon in Japan that day. The Kumamoto marathon was also held in the rain. More Than 12000 people participated in the competition. Finally, more than 10000 people completed the competition, and many people wore masks to participate in the competition.
Japan’s most famous Tokyo Marathon will be held on March 1. A few days ago, the Dongma organizing committee also issued a statement, imploring players living in China to give up participating in the competition, saying that if these players give up this year’s competition, the organizing committee will not only retain their qualification for participating in the competition until next year, they will also be exempted from the registration fee for next year’s competition.
There are about 32000 participants in the Tokyo Marathon, and there are about 1,800 applicants from China.