Tokyo Marathon 2010

I managed to ballot for the 10km race. It was really fun. No shortage of supporters along the entire 10km and it was raining and very cold. Very well organised and the Expo is a runner's heaven.

Run for your life

I ran the full marathon - was the hardest race of my life. (This was my 3rd marathon; 1st 2 were the NYC Marathon.) The heavy rain, wind and cold combined with the slowed-down runners and puddles made for a challenging time. But I finished and it was a great experience in hindsight! The race was very well organized and the support from the crowd during the race itself and from the organizers post-race made it all worthwhile. Not to mention I've heard from a few people that it puts the HK Marathon to shame. Thank you Tokyo!

While I congregulated you on your success in Tokyo Marathon, to be fair, I would say that the SCM in Hong Kong was also well organised this year. The route is challenging. The weather is always out of the control of the organiser, just like in Tokyo.

Thank you Hong Kong!

Agree , I have ran both HK and Tokyo and would not say any marathon puts any other to 'shame' I remember a few years ago seeing pictures of Tokyo marathon runners wearing coats and hats becasue it was in freezing rain ! Weather is just out of the hands of the organisers . Even the Paris marathoon one year was cut short becaue of a 'heat wave' and several well known USA marathons have had serious problems in the past because of weather conditions .

SOme people here say HK should be run ealierbut look at todays weather......perfect .... just one week later !

Ok, perhaps "shame" is on oveexaggeration but most people would agree that Tokyo is the better race for the following reasons:

1) Larger & more enthusiastic crowd that is there for the entire route.
2) More scenic route - running through a tunnel as in done in HK doesn't seem that enjoyable to me.

This year's TK & HK races had challenging weather conditions (v cold vs v hot) so congrats to all that completed both.

It'll make the Tokyo race inferior if we simply compare it with SCM-HK directly...you won't compare the standard of a postgraduate with that of a primary student, right?

I'd run SCM-HK almost every year including 2010 (2x10K, 6x21K, 4x42K) and tried both Tokyo & HK Marathons in 2009.

The SCM-HK is succesful in boosting the number of applicants (& hence the revenue) every year. In 2010, the total entry fees is $270 x 60,804 = $16,417,080 (really a huge sum of money). And the event got sponsorship from SCB, Watsons, NB, Salonpas, Nature Valley, etc. So, where did the monies go? HKAAA? Ko's Co? The cumulative total no. of participants (1997-2010) had reached 373,451; and the cumulative revenue should be ONE BILLION! How large a portion had been devoted to distance running in HK? 1%? 0.1%?

Is it good to ever aiming at a larger number? Despite the fact that we couldn't control the weather (but the rep from the transports/logistics industry had replied that the choice of race day didn't affect them as along as it's on Sunday)...Could the organizers control the quota so as to improve the quality of all race categories? Some 10K runners had to complete their race well before 6:00am (before sunrise)...Most 42K runners had to complete their race around 11:00-12:00 (even the Kenyan champion said it's hot although he finished quite early at 9:35am)!

Or, could we have different finishing points for 10K, 21K, 42K races in order to avoiding congestion (if the organizer really intend to maintain the scale)...But, bear in mind that Quantity =X= Quality.

I have a friend who took the 2010 Tokyo Marathon as his first 42K run; and he did finish the race despite the rain, cool air & windchill (thanks to the tangible supports from the crowd: green tea, fruits, snacks, candies, chocolates,etc)...It's not easy at all to stand on the streets aside as spectators for hours due to the adverse weather...but there're more than hundreds of thousand of them. Not to mention that the Tokyo Marathon Expo is just a paradise for most runners together with the supports obtained from the helpers & cheering groups.

One more point: The organizer of SCM-HK did put some effort in promoting the race as a commercial event. And we saw cheering teams performance at the SCM Carnival. But why is that there's no such activities at the race...when the runners really need them?

The only down side of taking Tokyo as your 1st marathon is that you'll have difficulty to find a better race.

Sorry that I'd made a typo concerning the cumulative revenue (1997-2010): should be 0.1 billion ONLY!

The major problem is the "runners" attitude in joining the SCM. It is okay if you run a 1 1/2 hour 10K as long as you have tried your best. Several years ago, I saw marathon"runnners"in the SCM started to walk when they reached the highway near Elements. It is only 2Km from the starting line. It has been puzzling me for years until one of the HKrunner comments mentioned that some people join just to take pictures from the bridges.

I love racing around the world. You meet cool people and really see some great sights. I often plan my holidays around them and I must say that almost every race is unique and enjoyable.

I really enjoyed last week's experience in HK (despite the conditions!) and I must say it is a big improvement on previous editions of the event.However it still has much to develop on if it wants to reach the pedestal Tokyo has reached very quickly in 4-years.

I ran Tokyo last year and it was sensational. The reasons being it was the biggest race I had been in - 25,000+ at the start line in the marathon. Not the 5-6000 that run here. It made the start cramped but they had corrals which were strictly managed. The entrants are wonderful(trained and motivated at the front, out to have fun at the back), the volunteers are amazing, the pre-race expo is a highlight in itself and the spectators outstanding. A true race with soul.
The weather in Tokyo is much colder than HK at this time of the year and they had some cold wind and rain last year too. In fact I think they have had impaired weather every year. Despite that the times ran in the event are far superior to what is realistic in HK as the courses are vastly different(Tokyo is generally flat), the best leading runners are sought out to run the event and the spectators push everybody to do their best.

I really want to run there again. I know that it might not be possible with the ballot system but heres hoping.
Go hard to go home!

I think the weather in Hong Kong is fine given having raced in KL, Singapore and Thailand. That is hot and humid.

Hi Guys

Could any of you supply me password to see the photos from tokyo marathon site? i throw away the all sports community flyer n did not realise they print a password there.

Dennis

i have searched the runners pack inside out, upside down, for days, can't find the password, eventually, i was told that there isn't any password included in the runners pack, just type "2010" as password, thence runners BIB.
afraid that you won't get any pictures if you ran under wind-breakers or rain-jacket as they can't sense your BIB, good luck !!

http://tm10eng.allsports.jp/event/00034096.html

above is the link in English.

i still remember those hot miso soup in Ginza which is far more better than gels after 30km run.

Regards
Eric Li

Hi Eric,
thanks a lot for the tip ! Also searched the package, but couldn't find anything.
Found dozens of nice pictures (bib was well visible because of my poor preparation: just had my shorts and singlet)... but the price of 9,980 JPY for the download package is tough !

Thanks for the link to the pics. Yes, more than US$100 for pics is very steep especially when not all the pics have me in it.

Anyone know when we can see chip time results?

Run for your life

Frankly,
the "password", just a like joke but at least they can minimize traffic on their website from non-running gangs;

Bakhwee,
you should able to find your splits (on chips) time on following link:
http://p.tokyo42195.org/index.html

for the pics, if you can live with poor qualities, take each photo on screen display.

Regards
Eric Li

Thanks Eric. I believe that is the gun time not chip time.

I shall try your suggestion to take each photo on screen display. They are quite clever, you cannot print it when you click on the photo. It comes up as all blue.

Run for your life

Just curious:
Did anybody get the Certificate ? It was supposed to be sent out end of March - checking everyday, but mailbox remains empty...

I received my certificate last month.