About 30,000 people from around the world ran through the Shinjuku, Ginza and Asakusa districts Sunday in Tokyo Marathon 2007, with rain pouring down and spectators along the course cheering them on.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070219a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='379'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>A mass of runners starts out Sunday morning on the Tokyo Marathon outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings in Shinjuku Ward. </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>At 9:05 a.m., with a signal gun fired by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, 31 people in wheelchairs set out on a 10-km race or a full 42.195-km marathon from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings in Shinjuku Ward, followed by the remaining amateur athletes and world-class competitive runners.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>After passing Yasukuni Shrine and the Imperial Palace, masses of amateur runners got to Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward beginning at around 10 a.m., about 20 minutes behind the lead groups. Cheers from hundreds of people along Hibiya Boulevard grew noticeably louder.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'This weather is the worst for runners and us,' said Masaaki Hashimoto, a member of Takahama Jogging Club in Chiba who came to see two fellow joggers take part. 'It's very unusual for a full-marathon to have the –

time limit of seven hours. I wish I could run."

The participants were picked by lot after 95,000 people applied for one of the largest marathons in Asia.

The event, a revamp of past Tokyo marathons, was cohosted by the metropolitan government and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

For Tokyo, which is promoting itself as Japan's candidate for the 2016 Summer Olympics, it was an opportunity to show its ability to handle large-scale sporting events.