Lake Biwa Marathon

Lake Biwa Marathon
2015 Lake Biwa Marathon
Date	Early March
Location	Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Primary sponsor	K-Opticom Corporation (2010–)
Established	1946
Official site	Lake Biwa Marathon

The Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon (びわ湖毎日マラソン, Biwako Mainichi Marason^?) held in Otsu, Shiga, is one of the prominent Japanese marathon races of the year. It is a male only competition and has IAAF Gold Label status. It was first held in 1946 and, having taken place every year since then, it is Japan's oldest annual marathon race. The early editions of the race were held in Osaka until a switch to Tokyo occurred for the 1963–65 marathons, and all subsequent races thereafter were held in Ōtsu, near Lake Biwa, where the race gets its name. It is sponsored by Mainichi and was known simply as the Mainichi Marathon for a period.

The race begins and ends at the Ojiyama Stadium. The Lake Biwa Marathon has been selected as the Japanese national marathon championships on dozens of occasions, starting in 1960. The current course record for the competition is 2:06:13 hours, set by Wilson Kipsang at the 2011 edition. The competition also hosted the men's Asian Marathon Championship in 1988.

Key:   Course record   Japanese championship race   Asian Marathon Championship race