"More than 34,000 runners participated in the 14th edition of the annual Osaka Marathon on Sunday. Footage shows athletes running, with crowds cheering, music bands performing and costumed mascots lining along the route. Medics were also seen helping some participants unable to stand due to exhaustion after crossing the finish line. Some runners shared the unusually warm weather made it tougher for them to complete the race. "We join here because it's cool every year, making it easier to aim for a record, but [this heat] is a bit unexpected," runners Minakawa Asami and Tomii Natsuki said. Despite the ridging temperature, many praised the course and atmosphere. "That was a good time out there. Great course around the city. Had some fun. Tough work, it was a bit hot, yeah, but I enjoyed it," Will Swington, a runner from Australia, said. Another Australian athlete highlighted the competitive depth of the field. "Osaka marathon, I've been told, has the highest number of elite runners of any marathon in the entire world. So there are 350 elite runners. All running. The women are 2:20 and below but the men are like 2:05. So even if you run 2:10 marathon, you might be 300th place or something. It's like crazy," he explained. First held in 2011, the Osaka Marathon has grown into one of Japan's major long-distance races, attracting tens of thousands of participants from Japan and abroad each year."