The organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Marathon which was due to be held on the 1st of March have announced that due to fears over the Corona virus, the marathon is effectively cancelled. Only elite athletes will be allowed to take part.
The press release stated “We have been preparing for the Tokyo Marathon 2020 while implementing preventive safety measures, however, now that case of COVID-19 [corona virus] has been confirmed within Tokyo, we cannot continue to launch the event within the scale we originally anticipated”
“We regret to inform you the following; the Tokyo Marathon 2020 will be held only for marathon elites, and wheelchair elites.”
Some 38,000 runners were due to take part in this event which is one of the Majors events. Now, just 200 elites will take part.
The organisers have said that there will be NO refunds for 2020! All registered runners can defer their entry to 2021 but they will have to pay the entry fee again.
Needless to say, most visitors will have spent a lot more on flights and accommodation.
It's likely that more major sporting events will be cancelled in 2020 including possibly the Olympics.
That's crazy no refunds, and in any case elite runners are people too they should just cancel the marathon altogether for safety reasons
ReplyDeleteOlympics could be under serious threat now as well
ReplyDelete