Lynn Crim was set to join the ranks of the Six Star Finishers of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, after his completion of the 2020 Tokyo Marathon. As we stood at the start line of the CARA Honda Miles Per Hour Race this past Sunday, we talked about his travel plans. He shared with me that his mom was worried about him traveling to Japan with the spread of the coronavirus, but that he had assured her not to worry and that all would be fine.

Well, all was not fine, as Lynn woke up this morning to an email from a fellow runner alerting him to the cancellation of the Tokyo Marathon for all non-elite runners.

On Monday Morning the Tokyo Marathon Foundation released the following message:

“Tokyo Marathon Foundation have been preparing for the Tokyo Marathon 2020 (Sunday, March 1) while implementing preventive safety measures, however, now that case of COVID-19 has been confirmed within Tokyo, we cannot continue to launch the event within the scale we originally anticipated and we regret to inform you the following:

The Tokyo Marathon 2020 will be held only for the marathon elites and the wheelchair elites.”

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-Tokyo Marathon 2020 Website

All registered runners have been given the option to defer their entry to 2021, but will have to repay the entry fee, as 2020 entry fees will not be refunded. Double whammy to runners. Not only are they unable to run a race they have spent months, even years preparing for, they won’t be refunded their registration fees.

As a Six Star hopeful, Lynn also received an email from Abbott about the cancellation and adding the following statement. “This of course means that your Six Star journey will, unfortunately, not reach its climax in Tokyo this year…The cancellation of the Tokyo Marathon applies to ALL mass participation runners. There is no exception for Six Star hopefuls.”

Lynn, like many runners, booked his travel plans through Marathon Tours, who seem to be unsure about how to handle this cancellation. In an email sent earlier today registered runners who had booked through them, they issued the following statement.

“As you can imagine, we have already received many emails with questions on what happens next and what this means for us. It is best that we reach out to you as a group with meaningful updates once we have them. Thank you in advance for your patience while we receive this information.”

-Marathon Tours

Lynn was scheduled to leave Chicago on the Wednesday before the race, compete in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 1st, and return home on Monday. As of early this morning all of those plans have changed and Lynn remains a Six Star hopeful.

“Well, it appeared my Six Star journey was coming to an end after running my first one in 2000,” reflected Lynn Crim. “It looks like the journey will continue for another year. After all, they say it’s the journey and not the final goal that really matters (yea right).”