As one of the Pre-Race Festa event in the Tokyo Marathon 2017, the Tokyo Marathon Family Run 2017 was held on Saturday morning February 25 in Ariake. The event is basically designed for the family and this year, 800 pairs totaling 1600 runners participated in the event. The participants are grouped together by the age of the child, such as first grade group, second grade group, third grade group, fourth grade group, fifth grade group and sixth grade group.

The opening act at 8:55AM started with the beating of the drums by Ryukyu Dancing group and five minutes later at 9:00AM, the opening ceremony started. After the ceremony, the 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki of Dai-ichi Life gave instructions for pre-race stretching.

After the stretching, runners grouped together by the age group categories waited for the start. Each of these groups were led by the special guests - two time Olympic runner Megumi Oshima, former martial art specialist Nobuo Kakuta, celebrity volunteer for the Tokyo Marathon 2017 Yu Nakamura and Tokyo Marathon 2017 Charity Ambassador and Comedian M Takashi - and started the race in succession after 9:30AM. Although the participants of this year`s Family Run are almost exclusively Japanese, the events are designed to be enjoyed by any Japanese residents regardless of their nationality. We encourage them to participate next year.