49th Fuji Tozan Ekiden: A Wild Card Story

Pre-race context – Harrisson: Team formation

When I set out to assemble a team to represent Namban Rengo for our second participation in this prestigious Ekiden, I quickly came to think that we would never make it.

Derder informed me that our club had received an invitation to participate this year, but as I reached out to potential runners, I realized that most of last year’s team was unavailable. Gary was still injured, Yuta was not free, and Kengo was recovering from an injury. Gary and Yuta are our club’s fastest runners, and Kengo ranks among the top 5k runners in Namban. From last year’s team, only Derder and I were returning.

I wasn’t concerned about the road sections since Namban is not short of very fast road runners. I recruited Corey, Graham, and Marco, who boast impressive 5k times of under 16:10 and under 16:40, respectively.

For the trail sections, I decided to tackle leg-4, which Vincent had managed brilliantly last year, especially the downhill portion. The technical leg-6 was assigned to Derder, our best technical descender, in whom I have complete confidence. However, I needed someone strong for leg-5, the longest segment with over 1000 meters of ascent. With our fastest road runner Gary sidelined, Tom immediately came to mind.

 

Tom was our wild card.
While his road running speed doesn’t quite match that of our three other road runners, his trail climbing ability is “abnormally” strong. However, I had two concerns:

1. He was on vacation in the Philippines until ten days before the race, leaving him with just over a week to prepare.
2. He had never climbed Mt Fuji.

But I trusted him and my gut feeling.
I was counting on Tom to run three minutes faster than Gary did last year, compensating for Yuta’s absence on the road sections. I estimated that the boys would be three minutes slower than last year’s squad on the first three road legs.

One week before the race, I shared the estimated timetable with my teammates, accounting for a one-minute buffer. Last year, we made the cutoff by a mere 29 seconds.

 

		Estimate	Cumulative Estimate (min)
Leg 1 – Uphill	Corey	25	25
Leg 2 – Uphill	Graham	23	48
Leg 3 – Uphill	Marco	23.5	71.5
Leg 4 – Uphill	Harri	34.5	106
Leg 5 – Uphill	Tom	58	164
Leg 6 – Uphill	Derder	40	204
Leg 6 – Downhill	Derder	15	219
Leg 7 – Downhill	Tom	11.5	230.5
Leg 8 – Downhill	Harri	8.5	239 (cutoff = 240min)
Leg 9 – Downhill	Marco	14	253
Leg 10 – Downhill	Graham	14	267
Leg 11 – Downhill	Corey	18	285

From the start, it was never about the ranking, let alone winning. Our goal was simply to make the stringent four-hour cutoff at the end of the eighth leg and return home with the Yellow Tasuki.

 

 

Leg 1 – Corey: In control

Given the gradually increasing gradient on the hill, I tried to go out controlled. It was tough, I slowed more than I expected between the 1st km and the 6th. Thankfully, there were lots of water stations, something the other legs didn’t have. The last climb to the handoff was tough, you can see it for a while, but it doesn’t get much closer 😆

 

Leg 2 – Graham: Reality check

After my practice run, I knew this was going to hurt despite a short distance of 4.6km. I felt great at the beginning and passed through the first kilometer at 4:11. From there, I was just hoping to keep a steady 5:00 pace the rest of the way, as the road got steeper. However, it didn’t turn out to be so easy, and I couldn’t keep myself from gradually slowing down and dipping below that. It was a struggle to the end, but I was able to put on a small surge the last 500m.

I thought I was relatively strong on uphills, but after this race, I realized that it was just on undulating hills. A true climb like this is a different challenge, I will have to train more for next time!

 

Leg 3 – Marco: The Fear of Walking

When Harrisson asked me to join the ekiden I made my usual mistake: I said “Yes!” before even knowing what I was getting myself into. But since it was my last race in Japan, I could not refuse.

The start of the third station was a simple forested area by the side of the road. Our number 16 was called amidst a rush of numbers, and I stood at the starting line ready. When I received the bright Yellow-Orange tasuki from Graham, it was already wet with the sweat of our first and second-leg runners. I knew I’d be adding a great deal more in the August heat. 

 The leg was more or less a steady incline with almost no flat sections, ramping up towards the end to reach the base of Mt. Fuji where the Gotemba trail starts. The first 3km were tough, but relatively uneventful. Keeping my expected power steady knowing the tough part was just about to start. By the last steep incline of the leg, however, I saw two strong runners in front of me begin to walk. One part of my brain invited me to do the same. Even in my two mock practice sessions in the weeks leading up to the race, I had never been able to finish the uphill without stopping for rest. 

It was this fear that had haunted me the entire week before the race. 
But seeing Lauren and Kengo cheering and running alongside me, and then Harrisson waiting for me, looking determined to make the cutoff time, convinced me to squeeze out every last drop of energy and finish the last leg of my journey running, arriving within 24 minutes. 

 

I checked my watch, it was exactly 9:11 AM, I had made the strict time limit carefully calculated by Harrisson. We were on target!

 

Leg 4 –  Harrisson: Till I collapse

From the outset, I felt a heavy and overwhelming sense of responsibility.
As a road runner, trail running has always been an off-season activity for me. However, I knew my climbing skills were solid, and I only needed to focus on the downhill section to ensure I didn’t slow the team down.

The uphill section was 2.9 km with a 650-meter ascent, primarily on soft, unstable sand, rising from 1,400 to 2,050 meters in altitude. 

My target was 34:30.
I waited patiently for Marco and for our number to be called: Juu Roku (16). I expected the team to complete the road section in 71 minutes, with Marco passing me the Tasuki at 9:11 AM. At 9:10 AM, the announcer called our number, and moments later, I saw Marco. He was clearly in great pain, struggling up the 18% slope to hand me the Tasuki. At 9:11 AM sharp, I took the sash, now heavier with the sweat of my teammates. As I charged up the hill, I could hear Marco’s voice, a mix of pain and relief echoing behind me.

Now it’s my turn to dig deep into the pain cave.
Fighting my way up the relentless hill and through the energy-sapping soft sand, the fog thickened as I neared the end. My legs and lungs were burning like hell, and, much like last year, I tasted blood in my mouth. When I spotted Tom waiting and cheering me on, I summoned my last ounce of strength for a 30-meter Final Surge to pass him the Tasuki before collapsing onto the sand.

Thankfully, the military staff quickly carried me aside, and a few minutes later, I was warmly greeted by Shiori, Taeko, and Yuri who had kindly come all the way to support us.

 

Leg 5 – Tom: Discipline

This is the longest leg by time, and I felt the pressure that my performance could be the difference between タイムリミット ok desu! and a Red Tasuki later in the race. 

The game plan was simple: control the pace until the second half of the leg where the trail becomes more secure and runnable. 

Watching other teams begin the leg at full speed, it took all the discipline I had been taught from years of running at Oda track to stick to the plan and be the first person to begin the 5th leg by walking.

With one of my long strides for every two of the runners ahead, by the halfway point I had gained 10 places.

The second half was just a question of getting the job done. As the visibility dropped to barely 30 meters, each bend in the zig-zag path became the goal. And then the next, and then the next. It flattened out towards the end and I gave one final push before handing it over to our summit specialist Derder at the 7th station.

 

Leg 6 – Derder: Rusty Body

My Second time running the Fuji Tozan relay. Same leg, same s*ht.
This time, however, the COVID-19 virus decided to join the party just five days before the race, making things a bit more difficult. Plenty of excuses were at my disposal: my heartbeat never calmed down, phlegm was stuck in my throat, my breath became heavy easily, and my legs felt rusty from hardly any running all week. Even though I knew I might be able to run by the weekend, I was really hoping someone could replace me instead.

As always, the 6th leg runners stayed the night in the hut up there. Mountain life is simple: all-you-can-eat curry, observing atmospheric phenomena like anti crepuscular rays, and sleep.

Woken up by the hut staff to see the sunrise, I had breakfast and went back to sleep. I wasn’t as energetic as last year when I even took a walk to the top before the race started.

When I tried warming up at 8 AM, I quickly found my breath becoming heavy, forcing me to stop. I was already imagining I might blow this race.

When I received the sash from Tom, I was extremely calm and could even tell him where my bag was so he wouldn’t be helpless for 50 minutes. I focused on controlling my legs and breath, pushing but not overexerting myself.

The top always seems so far away when you’re struggling, even though it’s only 400 meters.
I got the stamp on our sash in front of the shrine and brought it back down on my rusty legs, with a sudden flank pain. I was relieved I could pass it back to Tom.

 

Leg 7 – Tom: Epic Improvisation

Dropping 1000m in less than 3km, there wasn’t really a plan for this bit.
I just ran on wild and crazy instinct. Some singing, some screaming, and relentless pursuit of any runner I could see ahead. The makeshift tape shoe cover did its job, without too much of Mt Fuji in my shoes I managed to keep a strong pace. 

All was going well until…
I was so excited to spot Harrisson as he appeared out of the mist with a few meters to go, I made the mistake of speeding up when I should have been thinking about slowing down. I tripped, bounced off my knee, and slid down the mountain just far enough to reach Harrisson for the handover. We had practiced a technique for passing the Tasuki from right to left. We hadn’t thought to plan for handing it from below but luckily the improvisation went well.

I was carried off by the SDF medics.
Lesson learned. Although I had experienced a painful case of Fuji burn, I felt pumped from taking part in such an iconic race and strong performance from our team.

 

Leg 8 – Harrisson: X-Force

I knew Tom was a wild animal, but I had no idea just how wild he truly was.
We were right on schedule until I finished my leg (#4). After that, it was mostly guesswork, as I wasn’t entirely sure if Tom could hit the predicted time. Despite this, I felt confident and trusted he could pull it off. As I anxiously waited in the cold, thick fog for his finishing time on leg 5, Shiori, Tom’s personal cheerleader, suddenly shouted to me: he made it, 54 minutes!

That son of a b*tch was more than 3 minutes faster than his target time!
There was one last unknown variable in the predicted time equation: Derder. He’d tested positive for COVID-19 just five days before the race and wasn’t feeling his best. Despite this, I felt confident that the adrenaline and sheer determination would fuel him to greatness. Sure enough, the live update came in: Derder finished a minute faster than predicted.

I was totally pumped. With more than a four-minute lead, there was absolutely no doubt—we were going to crush it.

I was a bundle of nerves, my heart racing at 120 bpm, and I wasn’t even running yet—I was just waiting for Tom.
The memory of Vincent’s fear last year haunted me: rushing to Marco, only to watch him helplessly take off before I could hand him the Yellow Tasuki.

So I practiced this downhill section over eight times in the past four weeks leading up to the race. During these sessions, I improved from an average pace of over 4 minutes per kilometer to a sub-3-minute pace in my last practice. I discovered that lengthening my strides, landing on my heels on the soft sand portions, and lowering my center of mass were key to increasing speed while maintaining control. Now, with everything on the line, it was time to put all that practice to the test.

Things didn’t go according to plan at all.

The thrill of seeing Tom and the shock of watching him take a spectacular tumble right before my eyes as he handed me the Tasuki made me forget everything I had meticulously prepared. The thick fog limited my vision to just 20 meters, so I had to rely entirely on instinct.

In the chaos, I forgot to start my watch, leaving me clueless about my pace. But deep down, I knew the cut-off was no longer a concern. All I could think about was passing our Tasuki to my friend and teammate Marco. As I neared him, a huge smile spread across my face, despite my heart rate going through the roof. It was his last race in Japan and I wanted to make sure he would remember it.

Faithful to my style I yelled his name “Marcoooo” as if there was no tomorrow
“Allez Marco Allleeeeeeeezzz” 

I shouted so loudly that other runners and staff turned to stare, unsure whether I was screaming out of joy, agony, or sheer madness.
Moments later, I realized that Tom had run his leg nearly 3 minutes faster than the initial target.
That bastard did it again!

Leg 9 – Marco: Feet on Fire

The downhill leg began with a near-catastrophe. With little to no phone connection, getting information on the times of our team’s runners was difficult. We’d heard the brilliant news that both Harrisson and Tom had finished faster than their predicted times, but information after that had cut off. We guessed to expect Harrisson a little earlier, but not 8 minutes quicker than our predicted time! At that moment, I was sitting a bit confused on a bench and very nearly missed the call for our number –  it was Kengo, Taeko, and Yuri who had heard (thankfully making up for my lack of Japanese comprehension).

The “shameful” red Tasuki for those who couldn’t make the cut-off time was chucked into the designated cardboard box as I rushed to the start line and I was very quickly brought back into racing mode by Harrisson arriving at full speed and screaming my name “Marcoooooo!!”

The first thing I noticed when I received the Yellow-Orange tasuki from Harrison was that the once sweat-drenched but clean sash was now filthy and stained. I felt motivated and I thought :

“Wow, this is coming back not only with the runner’s sweat but also the dust they had breathed during the run”.
The reality was much simpler. The dirty Tasuki was simply evidence of one of the most memorable falls into the black volcanic gravel of Mt. Fuji. 

I can certainly say that I have never run so fast in my entire life, my feet were literally on fire. At each curve, I was looking for the endpoint, and when I finally passed the Tasuki to Graham, I sat and enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment for not having given up that only sport can give us.

It was a memorable experience for my last days in Japan and I want to thank Harrisson for giving me the opportunity to run it, the team for going all-out, and the supporters for offering their precious time to watch us suffer.

Written by Marco
Dramatized by Lauren, aka Pinciona

 

Leg 10 – Graham: Redemption

Running two 5k effort races with a 4-hour break in between was a new experience for me. I did take a 30-minute nap, but most of the time was spent listening to music and thinking about my disappointing performance on the uphill.  Our team’s time estimate was 1 minute under the (繰り上げ) cutoff, and I already spent 30 seconds of that on Leg 2. I also didn’t have cell reception, so I couldn’t get updates on the team. I was ready to race 15 minutes before our estimate, but was totally surprised when Marco came in almost 10 minutes ahead of schedule!

Seeing Marco and all the other runners come flying into the handoff got me fired up to run fast.
I went through the first kilometer in 2:54–this is typically my Final Surge pace at Namban workouts, but I felt I could keep it up! I somehow kept that momentum until the finish, but near the end, I was so tired and my arms were flailing everywhere so I was surprised Corey and I had a smooth handoff 😄

It’s rare that you can race so soon afterward to make up for mistakes or regrets, but that was my favorite part of this race format!

PS: Thanks for organizing everything (I guess some credit goes to DerDer too)!

 

Leg 11 – Corey: Car Chasing

I felt pretty well rested after 4+ hours in the shade. Graham came in earlier than expected, so I was surprised when they called our number. Downhill was very different, almost completely alone, with few spectators, and the sun was pretty brutal. Thanks to Rie-san and Ayumi-san who walked all the way down the mountain and gave me a boost with a couple of km to go. Got passed on the downhill just before the turn, but managed to pass 2 people in the last 1km. Unfortunately, one of those runners got me 10m before the line.

All in all, it was a tremendous experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to run with a great team from Namban, to participate in such a historic event, and even to spend 4 hours lying on the concrete in the shade with all my fellow Leg 1/11 runners. This ekiden is such a unique experience, something I tried and likely failed to convey in the broken Japanese interview I was asked to give right after finishing 😂

 

Result Summary

(Rotate your screen if read from your smartphone)

Leg 1 to 5: uphill, Leg 6: uphill and downhill (summit), leg 7 to 11: downhill
Number of teams in the general category: 75

		Estimate	Cumulative Estimate	Actual	Cumulative actual	Team Rank	Individual rank
Leg 1 – 6.2k	Corey	25:00	25:00	23:53	23:53	27	27
Leg 2 – 4.6k	Graham	23:00	48:00	23:33	47:26	29	35
Leg 3 – 4.5k	Marco	23:30	1:11:30	23:56	1:11:22	28	34
Leg 4 – 2.9k	Harri	34:30	1:46:00	34:28	1:45:50	28	26
Leg 5 – 4.2k	Tom	58:00	2:44:00	54:52	2:40:42	16	16
Leg 6 – 2.5k	Derder	40:00	3:24:00	40:15
Leg 6 – 2.5k	Derder	15:00	3:39:00	14:00	3:34:57	18	25
Leg 7 – 2.9k	Tom	11:30	3:50:30	8:50	3:43:47	15	5
Leg 8 – 2.7k	Harri	8:30	3:59:00	8:25	3:52:13	16	29
Leg 9 – 4.4k	Marco	14:00	4:13:00	12:57	4:05:09	14	19
Leg 10 – 4.6k	Graham	14:00	4:27:00	13:22	4:18:31	14	15
Leg 11 – 5.5k	Corey	18:00	4:45:00	17:23	4:35:54	14	28