Tokyo Marathon Canceled

The website says the elites will go on while the common people are screwed because they won’t refund the entry fee. Or if you defer to 2021, you have to cough up more dough. So do you call your credit card company and ask for your money back?

This site says that if the marathon is canceled, then they should get a refund under other information point #1. Hopefully Tokyo marathon does the right thing and refund the people’s money.

THIS IS SO SAD!! SO MANY MILES, SCRIFICE AND TRAINING. my support to the marathoners that will miss their tokyo dream. At least there are plenty of other races where they can use their fitness unlike NYC 2012 that got cancelled the day before.

Do I get a participation medal anyway?

RUN LOVER wrote:

THIS IS SO SAD!! SO MANY MILES, SCRIFICE AND TRAINING. my support to the marathoners that will miss their tokyo dream. At least there are plenty of other races where they can use their fitness unlike NYC 2012 that got cancelled the day before.

The saddest part is the Japanese mentality. This might end up in suicides.

But the stock market will continue to make all time highs!

The race has not been cancelled. Just the parade that follows.

douglas burke wrote:

Why would the Non Elite Runners be any more risky than the Elite Athletes?, The Wold Class Marathoners are Human like Everybody else, just That they are more talented and Overwhelmingly they work harder at running than the Athletes are NOT World Class, They can get sick like everybody else can, Being a World Class Marathoner, does not make someone immune from the Corona Virus.

The only reason I can think of is there are so many more of them, that one of them having it is more likely. Just an Example If their are 30 Thousand people in the race and only 30 Are World Class, it is more likely that someone, who is part of the 29,730 NON ELITE than from the 30 Elite

But The top are NOT IMMUNE.

You are correct, but I believe you are missing the point. I think the concerning issue is that the elites are generally going to have to travel to Japan and put themselves at risk. I’m not sure they should be expected to do that. I would ask anyone, would you travel to Japan right now knowing that the virus is in the early stages of an outbreak? What if countries start to ban travel to Japan in the next two weeks?

It’s complicated, but perhaps the best decision for Japan right now is to just shut this entire race down and nip this problem.

It's easy to handle 200 runners compared to 40000 runners. I think they will test 200 elite runners before the race, so that no one has the virus, so that it does not spread out to other runners. it's not easy to test 40000 runners. Also if they allow all the runners, then they will put all the volunteers safety in danger. Less runners means less volunteer and easy to stop the spread.

As far as tokyo olympics goes, it will be hard to track and I think they might cancel it if the virus is not under control till july

dodge ball wrote:

This site says that if the marathon is canceled, then they should get a refund under other information point #1.

This isn’t true. It says that if it is canceled only for one of a specific set of reasons will registrants get a refund (Other Info #1) and then it lists those causes (Entry Regulations #13) and they do not include potential pandemic.

It does call for refunds in the case of a “cancellation order from the authorities concerned,” which I’m surprised that they couldn’t get if they wanted to (the organizing committee is obviously very well connected politically and with local public safety agencies). But it may be that that was too tight a needle to thread if they wanted to still hold the elite race.

(Also, the reason they call out those specific reasons is clearly that they have an insurance policy that covers those cases specifically. They probably couldn’t find a company willing to take on the risk of fully refunding all entries for any potential cause of cancellation at a reasonable rate, if at all, so they purchased a policy that would cover them in all of the most likely scenarios they could think of... which didn’t include potential pandemic.)

Make it a virtual Tokyo marathon!

Can someone share other marathons that day that would let us in so we can at least use our fitness?

nub wrote:

It’s about avoiding a large mass of people, it has nothing to do with their fitness level...

You responded to that idiotic post a lot more kindly than I would have been able to - well done.

bootsie wrote:

The race has not been cancelled. Just the parade that follows.

lol

bootsie wrote:

The race has not been cancelled. Just the parade that follows.

The only reason they can afford for elites to run is because people who paid to be in the following parade aren’t getting refunded. There would be no marathon majors without hobby joggers.

Amateur Runner wrote:

It's easy to handle 200 runners compared to 40000 runners. I think they will test 200 elite runners before the race, so that no one has the virus, so that it does not spread out to other runners. it's not easy to test 40000 runners. Also if they allow all the runners, then they will put all the volunteers safety in danger. Less runners means less volunteer and easy to stop the spread.

As far as tokyo olympics goes, it will be hard to track and I think they might cancel it if the virus is not under control till july

They're not going to test the thousands of spectators though.

What a mess.

So first off all 1,800 Chinese runners asked to stay away with no incentives; then they get only 2021 deferment; then changed to full refund or complete 2021 deferment; and now all other non-elite runners get no refund or must pay again for 2021? I would be pissed. Sure, the original intent was to keep the Chinese away, but now with this new elite-only policy the organizers essentially gave Chinese runners preferential treatment above everyone else.

Not impressed by how organizers keep changing their policy every few days. Striking contrast to Kyoto. Make one damn policy change and stick with it!

Co-Flounder wrote:

The only reason they can afford for elites to run is because people who paid to be in the following parade aren’t getting refunded. There would be no marathon majors without hobby joggers.

How does Fukuoka do it?