An impressive number of enties those registered in Tokyo (JPN) for the race that will contest to Hong Kong the title of the "first race of the year" 2019.
The very young U18 girls will start at 8:50 on the distance of 3km.
Following:
9:20: 20 km men
11:20: 10km women and 10km U20 and 18 men
12:30: U20 women 5 km and all Masters
The organizers of the Tokyo Athletic Association will therefore have the merit of starting the first 20km of the year considering the time difference compared to Hong Kong only 10 minutes before the scheduled departure for the "the 1st race" in Hong Kong, where Liu Hong is due to start.
But Hong Kong, with its start at 8:30, will have the merit of having started the first 50km of 2019 only 10 minutes after the start of the firs 20km
But let's go back to the start list that, if there is still any doubt about the importance of race walking in the Land of the Rising Sun is, should cancel it immediately.
The 20km men has an entry list limited to 100 athletes (98 Japanese and 2 of Taipei) and probably the start will exceed that of the 66th New Year Race Walking in 2017 when 94 athletes were seen at the start.
The 10km women see 31 athletes entered (last year they were 38).
Even more impressive are the numbers of the 10km U20-U18 men where at the start they should be in 105.
The 5km U20 women sees 48 athletes registered while there are only 6 who will compete on 3km.
Last year Daisuke Matsunaga began the season with a New Year's bang (1:20:12).
This year the competition for the first time will also be valid for obtaining the entry standard required by the IAAF for the World Championships in Doha 2019, having the Tokyo Athletic Association provided for the international certification of the course and the appointment of three international race walking judges: Fung Wang Tak (HKG), Hideo Yamada (JPN), and Tomoya Ishii (JPN).
(co-operation byTomoya Ishii - Japan)