2022 February's Ohme 30 km Road Race Cancelled Due to Pandemic

On Oct. 14 the organizers of Tokyo's Ohme 30 km Road Race announced that the popular event's 55th running, scheduled for Feb. 20, 2022, will not go ahead and will instead be postponed a year.

Organizers said that due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic they had concerns about being able to stage the event in a way safe for runners, local residents, race staff and volunteers. The Ohme 30 km's 55th running was originally scheduled for February, 2021 but was postponed to 2022, meaning the new decision will in effect be a two-year postponement. 

The Ohme 30 km Road Race was founded in 1967. Starting in the western Tokyo suburb of Ohme, the race follows a mountainous route along the upper Tama River gorge and back.

Featuring both 30 km and 10 km races, the race seen wins from Olympic gold medalists like Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi, and is one of Japan's most popular races for amateur runners, with over 12,000 finishers every year. In place of the 2022 event, organizers will hold a virtual race.

posted Monday October 18th
by Brett Larner