All finishers of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon are congratulated by Tiffany & Co., a global luxury jeweler, with a pendant exclusively designed every year. The pendant is enclosed in the iconic Blue Box, and handed to each finisher by a special staff dressed in a tuxedo. At a Tiffany boutique, runners may have their pendant engraved with the finish time (with charge) and make it a perfect memento of their race completion!

The Nagoya Women’s Marathon was originated as the Nagoya International Women’s Marathon, an elite race known as a historical qualifying trial for the Olympics and the World Championships. To respond to the expectation of marathon fans across the country, the race was reformed into a mass participation marathon with participants of 15,000 women in 2012. Starting and finishing at VANTELIN DOME NAGOYA, the route is designed to showcase the city’s landmarks. The course is also popular for being wide and mostly flat, which makes it easy for runners to set and break records. While the race still serves as a world-leading competition among elite athletes, its 7-hour-long time limit makes it beginner-friendly and easy to finish. (The completion rate of 2023:97.3%)

The Nagoya Women’s Marathon was awarded a Platinum Label in November 2019, the highest-ranking label in the World Athletics’ classification system for road races, based on its 8th edition in 2019. Other major Platinum Label road races include the Boston Marathon (USA), the London Marathon (UK), the Berlin Marathon (Germany), and the Tokyo Marathon (Japan). The Label shows the race is not only a beloved local running event but also an internationally renowned race.

Having gathered 13,114 participants, the inaugural Nagoya Women’s Marathon was recognized as the largest women’s marathon in the world by Guinness World Records. The Marathon improved its own record every year until 2018 and still holds the world record (21,915 participants in 2018).

“Running for a charity” is a global phenomenon among marathon events around the world including the London Marathon. The Nagoya Women’s Marathon offers a charity entry program in which runners support a charity of their choice by paying an extra fee as a donation in addition to the standard entry fee. (Each charity participant chooses an organization to support from the list of charities provided by the organizer.)