Yokohama North Dock Ekiden

Thanks to Yasuo Hayakawa, Namban Rengo entered a five-man team in the this ekiden on May 18th, a slightly hot day. The North Dock is a small army base near Higashi Kawasaki station. It’s on the water (supports the US Navy) and is nice, with several areas of grass and trees. Yasuo, Matt Thomas, Padraig MacColgain, Nick Coyle and Bob Poulson each ran 1.4k 6 times, completing approximately the marathon distance. A chip recorded each lap; the data was uploaded to a website and could be viewed in real time via an app. So you can constantly check what place you’re in, which makes it more fun. The five ran each leg all-out (about 23 minutes rest after each), and managed to maintain their pace to the end, finishing 7th out of 35 men’s teams. The first 3 or 4 teams were young and fast, and most teams had more than 5 runners (could have up to 15) so 7th was not bad. There were only 3 women’s teams, but 113 mixed teams. Namban should go back next year with a few ladies and win the mixed division!