Photo/Illutration Runners competing in the Tokyo Marathon set off from outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in the capital’s Shinjuku district at 9:10 a.m. on March 6. (Pool)

Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya chalked up another title in his long list of victories by winning the Tokyo Marathon on March 6 with a time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the fastest ever for the race in Japan.

His achievement followed his victory in the Olympic marathon held in Tokyo last summer.

Kengo Suzuki finished fourth with a time of 2:05:28, the best record among Japanese runners.

His wife, Mao Ichiyama, clocked in at 2:21:02 and in sixth place in the women’s section, the best among Japanese female athletes.

Aside from these elite runners, 19,188 of the roughly 25,000 runners from the public qualified to enter the race competed. It marked the first time in three years for members of the public to compete in the race after the COVID-19 outbreak.

They were required to prove negative for the novel coronavirus in PCR testing and report daily if they developed a fever 10 days before the marathon.

Although organizers asked Tokyo residents to refrain from forming crowds to cheer, throngs turned out to root for runners in some busy districts in the capital.

After the race, Nana Arakawa, a 36-year-old company employee, said she found it difficult to keep a distance from other entrants after the start because so many were grouped close by.

Holding this kind of event when the health care system is under strain from the pandemic is bound to provoke sharp public criticism, she said.

“But I felt great about running normally,” her first full marathon in a while, she added.

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