Heat forces 7.30am starts for marathons, race walks

The marathons and 35km race walks at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo will start half an hour earlier because of health risks posed by unseasonably hot weather, the organisers said on Sept 11.

- AFP, REUTERS

TOKYO - The marathons and 35km race walks at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo will start half an hour earlier because of health risks posed by unseasonably hot weather, the organisers said on Sept 11.

The energy-sapping race walks are scheduled to open the championships on Sept 13 morning, with the women's marathon on Sept 14 and the men's on Sept 15.

Temperatures have been as high as 33 deg C this week and, with the heatwave set to continue into next week, the organisers have been forced to move the road race starts to 7.30am local time.

"Due to expected elevated heat conditions that could pose a health and safety risk to competing athletes, all road events on the first three days... will start 30 minutes earlier than scheduled," said a joint statement from the organisers and World Athletics.