This represented the first time that two men had completed the marathon distance under two hours and ten minutes at the same competition. The second world record of the competition's history came in 1981 and it was again an Australian runner, this time Robert de Castella, whose time of 2:08:18 hours became the new world standard. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers restricted the number of participants to about 100 runners. On March 26, 2021, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, newspaper Asahi Shimbun, and broadcast partners Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting and TV Asahi announced that the 75th Fukuoka International Marathon would be its last edition citing difficulties in continuing the event such as increasing operating costs and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on March 15, 2021, the JAAF and the Fukuoka Prefectural Government announced that a successor race would be held in December of that year "maintaining [the] history and tradition" of the original championship. The Fukuoka Marathon is the third-longest running competition of its type in Japan, being established two years after the Lake Biwa Marathon and one year after the Kochi Marathon. This makes it the tenth longest running annual marathon race in recorded history. The competition has hosted the men's marathon championship race numerous times: it first held the event in 1955 and then hosted the race on a biennial basis from 1963 to 1997. It later hosted the national championship race once every three years, on a rotational basis alongside the Lake Biwa and Tokyo Marathons. Qualification Male runners who achieved the following times in an official event of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) or a race for members of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) in a certain period, and who were aged 19 years or older on the day of the race could apply for the race. Group A: Marathon: under 2 hours 27 minutes 30 km road race: under 1 hour 35 minutes Half-marathon: under 1 hour 05 minutes Group B: Marathon: under 2 hours 35 minutes 30 km road race: under 1 hour 45 minutes Half-marathon: under 1 hour 10 minutes Winners Key: Course record Japanese championship race Notes References List of winners Heyworth, Malcolm et al. (2010-12-05). Fukuoka Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2011-12-04. External links Fukuoka-Marathon.com - Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship (official site, English language portal) 'A history of the