Setagaya 264 Half Marathon
Setagaya City, Japan
- Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The Setagaya 246 Half Marathon is a half marathon that runs through major roads in the ward, such as National Route 246, along the Tama River, Tama Tsutsumi Dori, and Meguro Dori, based at the Komazawa Olympic Park General Athletic Stadium. The course is filled with the charm of Setagaya, … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Nov 09):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°C) | 14 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 19 |
| L (°C) | 11 | 8 | 15 | 12 | 15 |
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Once past Covid precautions, a nice race
The Setagaya 246 (not 264---my error) starts at Komazawa Olympic Park, one of the sites of the 1964 Olympics, and runs along highway 246 to the Tamagawa river and along … MORE
The Setagaya 246 (not 264—my error) starts at Komazawa Olympic Park, one of the sites of the 1964 Olympics, and runs along highway 246 to the Tamagawa river and along that for the first 10 miles of mostly downhill and level terrain. Then at about mile 10, you leave the river and run the final 3 miles uphill back to the park. If you are not prepared for the uphill—or get carried away on the downhill and level parts—it will shock you back into reality. The real race begins then.
Three or four water stations are provided where you can pick up a paper cup of water.
This year, Covid-19 precautions remained strict. Proof of three vaccinations were required which were uploaded to a smartphone app before the race. Beginning two weeks before, we had to submit a daily temperature reading as well as complete a daily health checklist. All of this is in Japanese so it requires a very high level of Japanese to understand, or a good translation app, or better yet, a Japanese friend to understand fully. Once you have all of that, entering is race day is no problem. Like most such events in Tokyo, it’s near perfectly organized.
The “swag” consisted of a t-shirt and a face mask with Setagaya printed on it. But we come for the important part, the race.
There were over 1700 runners this year, including many top college runners. The start is crowded, of course, and in some parts of the first mile or two, the road narrowed to the point that only three runners shoulder to should could pass through easily. If you start near the middle or the rear, you will need a lot of patience there.
I would not recommend someone come to Japan just for this race, but if you are already in Tokyo or nearby, it’s a nice little race and you may get to see a part of Tokyo most tourists miss. Then again, I love the Tamagawa river, so I am biased.