Nagano Marathon

Submitted by johnyuehan on Wed, 2009/11/11 - 14:18.
2010/04/18 - 00:00
Event Information:

I'll be running the Nagano Marathon on April 18, 2010 & have volunteered with it for the last 7 years. Highly rated, run very well & quite popular. Foreigners have more time to register than Japanese people: from November 21st thru February 26, 2010 (it fills up in less than 2 days for Japanese people). The mostly flat course winds around 4 stadiums used in the 1998 Winter Olympics & finishes in the opening / closing ceremony stadium; 100,000+ fans, cherry blossoms; mountains in the distance 360, some snowcapped.

Registration is limited to 8,000 people, which is very nice - you're running shortly after the start time & don't have a mob of 30,000 people to run thru. This is one of the few races in Japan with registration, websites & more support in English.

Loads of info on my web site for the race:
http://web.mac.com/johnyuehan/johnyuehan.com/nagano.html
Google maps, course videos & more are on the official marathon web site: http://www.naganomarathon.gr.jp/contents/english/index.html

Anyone want to join me for training runs on weekends this winter? Easy or tough runs, anything is fine with me. John in Numata

Event Location:

Nagano City, Nagano prefecture

Event Directions:

Shinkansen from Takasaki: about an hour. By car: 2 hrs.

Event Contact Information:

John Dombeck johnyuehan@hotmail.com

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Heart of Sword's picture

Hey John! How many

Submitted by Heart of Sword on Tue, 2009/12/01 - 22:31.

Hey John!

How many kilometers is it?

I'll most definitely be there anyhoo!

Edit:

WHOA! 8,500円 entry fee?! ...

I'll think about it some more ><

42.195

Submitted by GAJET Pres on Wed, 2009/12/02 - 11:52.

traditional marathon distance: 42.195km since 1924 (according to the 'net)
time to beat: 2:03:59 good luck!
prize money is yours if you win!

Brooke Brown
GAJET Pres 2009/10

johnyuehan's picture

Nagano Marathon

Submitted by johnyuehan on Mon, 2009/12/07 - 12:24.

Yes, this is a full 42.195km, 26.2 mile, marathon. There is a time cutoff of 5 hours, though last year it was unusually hot so they let the last runner cross the finish line at 5 hrs 24 minutes. This isn't a race you can walk the entire distance; you have to maintain at least a steady jog to finish in time. My goal is to finish in less than 4 hours, probably in the 3:50 range. Lots of training to go, so that could change.

Y8,500 is a bit expensive for a race, but being able to register until late Feb. for an April race is very nice. Volunteers who have worked with both Nagano & Tokyo marathons say Nagano is organized much better. Smaller field of runners (about 7,200 at the starting line last year) so you're not fighting your way thru crowds of 30,000. Feel free to ask me any questions.