Athletics was one of the sports at the biennial Far Eastern Championship Games. Athletics competitions were held at every one of the ten editions of the games, which existed between 1913 and 1934. This represented the first time that a regular major international athletics competition occurred between Asian nations. It was later succeeded by athletics at the Asian Games, which began in 1951.[1]
At the start of the 20th century, the Philippines was initially the most developed nation in track and field sports given its close ties to the United States through its Insular Government, which ruled the country as a territory. As the head of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation and physical director of the national YMCA branch, Elwood Brown had set about developing American sports in the Philippines. He was central to the creation of the Far Eastern Athletic Association and track and field was a main aspect of the Far Eastern Championship Games from the inaugural edition.[2][3]
Correspondingly, in the first half of the competition's history, the Philippines was the most dominant nation in the athletics programme, going unbeaten in the first five editions.[2] Japan's development in Western track and field coincided with the launch of the games, with the country holding its first national championships for the sport in 1913. Developing through similar means of engagement with the YMCA sports programme in the country, the country became the dominant force in athletics in the mid-1920s and won four of the last five championship titles in the sport.[4] Outside the Western-defined track events, Japan was consistently dominant in the middle- and long-distance running events from the beginning of the competition, owing to its tradition of distance running including the Kanto 10-mile road race (held near Narita since the late 19th century)[5] and its well-developed ekiden foot messenger system.[6] Chinese track and field athletes, led by their local YMCA athletic group,[2] also developed over the period that the competition was held, but as the 20th century progressed they quickly fell behind the standard set by Japan and the Philippines; China began to emerge as a regional power in athletics in the 1970s.[7][8]