Tokyo Marathon 2011 ballot: 294,496 applications

February 27, 2011 turned an unknown office worker into a household name. Yuki Kawauchi, a 23 year old clerk for the Saitama prefectural government who trained alone without sponsorship, chased the East African leaders home and finished third in a 2:08:37 personal best, the fastest Japanese run on the Tokyo course and the top home man on the day. Hailu Mekonnen won in 2:07:35 with Paul Biwott second. Conditions helped, near 7 degrees with light cloud and gentle winds, the first dry edition the race had seen. Behind the elites the general lottery drew 294,496 marathon applicants, a competition ratio near 9.2 times. Noriko Higuchi was later awarded the women's title after Tatyana Aryasova failed a doping test.