Hikone City Marathon

The Hikone City Marathon is a long-running community road race held in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, offering runners the chance to race through one of Japan’s best-known historic castle towns. The event is centred at Heiwado HATO Stadium (Hikone General Sports Park), with its courses extending onto roads around Hikone Castle, a designated National Treasure and one of only five castles in Japan whose original keeps have National Treasure status.

Rather than being a conventional 42.195 km marathon despite its name, the Hikone City Marathon is a shorter-distance running festival featuring approximately 10 km, 5 km and 3 km races. There are numerous divisions covering elementary and junior-high students, high-school students and adults, along with parent-child and pair categories, making the event particularly accessible to families and recreational runners as well as athletes looking for a fast shorter-distance race.