Africans dominate Tokyo Marathon, finishers get awesome race medals

Congrats to all #TokyoMarathon finishers! Show off your medals using #AbbottWMM! Thanks to @Joost_Bekkers for pic! pic.twitter.com/bSPfU90xBf

— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) February 28, 2016

The last event of the World Marathon Majors concluded on Sunday morning in Japan as runners strived for personal bests at the Tokyo Marathon. The Abbott World Marathon Majors includes six events across the globe

Six races comprise the World Marathon Majors: the Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon and the New York City Marathon. Runners who complete all six races get this pretty awesome medal too (see below tweet).

In just a few hours we’ll be honoring some of the runners who have successfully completed all 6 #AbbottWMM races! pic.twitter.com/5EsFqNvmMx

— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) February 28, 2016

To earn the six-star honour (completing all six races), a runner must have completed the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City Marathons in 2006 or later, and the Tokyo Marathon in 2013 or later.

A full list of those who have done the six races can be found here (lots of Canadians).

Africans dominated Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon taking the top-seven spots in both the men’s and women’s races. Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 2:06:56 and Helah Kiprop of Kenya set a personal best and course record winning the women’s race in 2:21:27.

Brief highlights can be found below:

Charles Prange was the top Canadian in the men’s race running 2:45:14 while Lucy Kenward ran 3:12:41 to finish as the top Canadian woman.

Start of #TokyoMarathon today. Thats a lot of dedicated, passionate distance runners right there. #AbbottWMM #run pic.twitter.com/iSg4QFQA4B

— Neil Gottlieb (@Neil_Gottlieb) February 28, 2016

A recap of the previous five major races can be found below:

Eliud Kipchoge and Mary Keitany earned the overall Abbott World Marathon Major series prize with the highest point score for the eligible races. This was the ninth edition of the Abbott series.

The next cycle of the Abbott World Marathon Majors begins in April at the Boston Marathon.

Abel Kirui, an Olympic medallist who won the Blue Nose half-marathon last year, was also in Sunday’s race sporting an all-purple top (with matching arm sleeves).

[東京マラソン]
4 アベル・キルイ選手(ケニア)
KIRUI,Abel#東京マラソン2016 pic.twitter.com/piJ9DLIz9Y

— U_ta (@run_run_u) February 28, 2016

Full results for the event can be found here (note: text is in Japanese).