46th Gunma Safari Tomioka Marathon

The Gunma Safari Tomioka Marathon is a city road race staged in Tomioka, the Gunma silk town, with every distance starting and finishing on the ground of Tomioka City Takase Elementary School. Entrants choose between a half marathon, 10km, 5km and 3km, and there is also a 3km pair race in which a child of elementary school age or younger runs alongside a parent or guardian. The half marathon is the only distance with a cut-off, set at two and a half hours with a checkpoint at 15.7km that must be passed within 1 hour 45 minutes. Food and drink booths are set up around the venue, and each participant receives a hospitality ticket worth 500 yen to spend there, plus local produce, admission tickets for Gunma Safari Park and the Tomioka Silk Mill, and a towel. Race packs are posted out roughly two weeks before the event, so there is no athlete reception to queue for on the morning.