50th Fuji Tozan Ekiden – It ain’t over till it’s over

Pre-race context – Harrisson: Team formation

This year again, we received an invitation to participate in the Fuji Ekiden, which meant that I needed to think about the recruitment process. However, this year, I did not intend to take part in it, just being on the sidelines as the team’s coach and supporter. I did this for two reasons: 

1. I was not mentally prepared to make the heavy training commitment again
2. I wanted to give the opportunity to other club members to take part in this unique and prestigious challenge

I wasn’t concerned about the road sections since Namban is not short of very fast road runners. I recruited Corey, Graham, both sub 75min for half marathon, and Kengo, who had recently broke 16min for 5k.

A long shot?
Now I needed to find someone for the 4th, 5th, and 6th legs, the mountain sections. For the 4th leg, I thought about Sean, as he was in his early 20s, and although he did not have any experience of Mount Fuji, I thought his speed would carry him both on the climb and on the descent.

For the 5th leg, we needed someone both strong on climbs and on fast descent (3km on a 35% slope, sandy course), I asked Cal, as he was both a strong road runner and used to running technical trails.

Lastly, for the grueling 6th leg, it took me more time. As Derder was out his year, a strong trailer and descender came to my mind: an OG from Namban, Martin, that I met 15 years ago. He seemed a bit surprised when I called him,  “Why me? You know Harrisson, I’m an old man now, in his 50s…” were his words. Somehow, I had the gut feeling that he’d be fully committed and would not disappoint. Martin is a 2:50 marathoner and an ultra-trail runner.

Mental Switch

Kengo messaged me on Thursday night (T-3) at 23:00 and said he was hit with a fever and would not be able to run. Finding a strong runner 2 days before the race, willing to spend the night in Gotemba, was close to mission impossible. I quickly came to realize that I had no choice but to step in. I really did not want to race, but there was no other way around.

Our goal to make the stringent four-hour cutoff at the end of the eighth leg and return home with the Yellow Tasuki was uncertain, but we were all ready to give our best.

一生懸命頑張るしかない

Leg 1 – Sean – I Saw Her

Five days or so before the Fuji Tozan Ekiden, my race changed. I had trained and mentally prepared for the punishing uphill ascent of the 4th leg and the absurdly fast, almost dangerous descent of the 8th leg with loose volcanic stone and shifty sand. But a sudden dropout due to illness meant I would now run the 1st and 11th leg instead. This time, only road, no less difficult, just different.

The start line and the surrounding area were a stage of chaos. Crews stretched and massaged their runners, handed out water, Pocari, and fuel, said words of encouragement, and strategy. 

Harrisson’s voice echoed in my head: Don’t get swallowed by the starting group. I let the pack surge ahead, and eventually left the track after 800 meters, close to the back third of runners, then began pulling back positions on the climb.

Approximately 4 kilometers in, lungs burning, legs aching, I saw her.
A border collie barking on the roadside. My dog, or the closest I could hope for. She had been with me since I was four years old and passed away soon after I moved to Japan. For a moment, it felt like she was there, cheering me forward as she barked at the passing runners. That, the weight of the tatsuki, and the rest of the team waiting further up the mountain carried me to the 2nd leg exchange about 45 seconds faster than I had planned for.

Leg 2 – Graham: Hill training

The excitement from seeing Sean coming through earlier than I expected, and executing a great final surge, helped me put down a solid 1st kilometer up the mountain. But things got tough quicker than I expected, and I ended up struggling to the finish. I was disappointed in my result, slower than last year by 40 seconds, because I thought I was in better 5k shape, but I think I was lacking the uphill-specific training (short hill sprints aren’t enough!).

Leg 3 – Corey

Appreciated the chance to try a different leg this time. Need more uphill training, but it was a great experience, even the last super steep 1k!

Leg 4 –  Harrisson – Mental switch

Since Friday—two days before the race—I had been dreading this leg. I wasn’t mentally prepared to compete. After finishing the Fuji Tozan (a 21km climb to the summit just a week earlier), I had already switched off from racing mode. This leg was originally Sean’s, and I didn’t feel confident about jumping into the first mountain section. The only upside: I had run it more than ten times last year, so I knew the course well.

Still, I knew from the start that I wouldn’t be able to match last year’s pace—neither on the climb nor the descent. But there I was, standing in the heat, anxiously waiting for Corey.

Corey arrived one minute ahead of schedule, running strong and handing me the yellow tasuki—soaked in sweat—after an impressive Final Surge up the brutal 15% slope.

From that point, the plan was simple: run as hard as possible until my body gave out.

I wasn’t as confident as last year, so I focused on damage control—minimizing how many runners passed me (in the end, just two). In the final 200 meters, I heard Meghna cheering, but I had no energy left to respond—my heart rate was peaking at 187 bpm, and I was completely dialed in. I spotted Cal waving, heard Yumie’s voice too.

I handed off the tasuki and collapsed into the sand.

Leg 5 – Cal – The race before the race

To me, most of the drama happened before the start. 

After my marathon PB in Feb (yay), I had no races planned and lacked motivation (boo). So when Harrison offered the opportunity to represent Namban at the 50th Fuji Tozan Ekiden, I jumped at the chance. Not only was I honoured to be even considered, but I was also motivated again. 

Then I watched the video of the 48th Fuji Tozan Ekiden 😱What the hell?!!! This thing is brutal. I actually got a little bit scared. 

Then I heard I was running the 5th leg 😱 What the hell?!! This is the most brutal leg of all, run previously by club legends Gary and Tom,  who fractured his in the process, creating an iconic moment in Namban history. How could I follow that? 

I realised I couldn’t. I could only do the best of my ability. So I reached out to both of them — thanks fellas!! — to learn from their experience.

Then, while putting that into practice, I SPRAINED MY ANKLES FIVE TIMES 😱What the hell?!!!! 

I had to be careful. I couldn’t run in the mountains for most of my training. So I did the only thing I could: STAIRS. A LOT OF STAIRS. 

I stopped using the elevator and walked or ran up and down my 13-story building every day. Sometimes for hours, equivalent to up and down the Burj Khalifa twice. It was hot. It was boring. It was draining. But it was good training. In the end, sadly, not enough for Fuji-san. 

During last-minute logistics, we messed up the race day timing (nobody’s fault, it was a group decision). When I got to “Taro-bo” @ 5th Station, I had very little time to get up the mountain for registration. It was a race just to get to the start. 

Thankfully, I made it. I arrived literally the moment they were calling “Ju san. Ju san.” 

The irony is, I felt great doing this. I was in tune with the mountain, and my unofficial time for leg 4 beat many other runners in the race itself. Unfortunately, even after a one-hour break, my legs were trashed.When Harrison arrived, looking like some kind of Zombie Terminator, I got inspired and took off strong. After about 1km, though, I couldn’t find the drive I needed and knew I was gone. So I gritted my teeth and plowed upwards, repeating my mantra “Nam. Ban. Nam. Ban” every time my feet hit the sand, until I finally reached Martin waiting eagerly @ Niggo-Hasshaku (7.5 station).

Leg 6 – OG Martin – Back into the game

Before the race

When Harrison contacted me in May, asking if I was interested in running leg 6 of the Fuji Tozan Ekiden, my first reaction was surprise: « What? Who? Me? Why? »

I could not really grasp why he would ask an old man like me to tackle this mission and even more dubious when I heard his main rationale for it that I was a « strong descender » and that this was needed for this 6th leg (with my close to 80kg, I never considered myself a good descender on trails).

However, I do like stretch goals, and having climbed Fuji so many times and been to this race to cheer on a friend 6 years ago, I was excited at the idea of giving it a try and started to train for it, hitting the mountain as many times as I could in the 3 months I had to prepare.

My goals for the leg were to climb the 600m in 40 minutes and go down in 15, which sounded aggressive, but it is not like I had a choice if we wanted to have a chance to come back with a yellow Tasuki; there was not a single minute of margin in the plan.

As training progressed, I started to feel like  40minutes up was possible (in the end, that is « only 900m per hour », even thinking that I could maybe shave off another minute or two on that. For the downhill, though, it was the other way around; the more I thought about it, the more I believed that descending the rocky and steep trail full steam on was a recipe for a fall and was not confident at all (and my hike to the summit the day before the race only seemed to confirm this).

So with all this and while I had a nice evening at the hut chatting with a number of the other runners and their supporters (many of them strong people running the skyrace tour or Skimo season), I can say that the pressure was mounting and confidence was not at the top. To make things even better, I had a light headache from altitude despite having spent many nights at 2500 to 3000m during training and never feeling anything.

The Race 

The atmosphere at the start was electric with all runners pumped up and serious speed to be witnessed. The weather was a little cloudy at lower altitude, but full sun was on up there, so it was warm, but luckily, a nice breeze was blowing. 

Waiting for our turn felt very long, even though the guys had done great and Cal was only a couple of minutes later than scheduled. I remember thinking Cal was moving up very well in the last section, where we could see him, and wondering how he could possibly be later than scheduled, climbing that fast.

I got the Tasuki and started my run.
The guys had told me about how wet it would be from everyone’s sweat, but I immediately felt that and the responsibility that comes with it. I did my best to avoid getting carried away and stick to the plan I had just discussed with Eric who had nicely climbed up in the morning to support and cheer for us: start conservatively only running the short and not too steep part right after the hut, then walk up with a good pace but not putting myself in the red for the first third, pick up the pace in the second third and then finish as hard as I could to try to break 40.

I was quickly overtaken by a train of 5 guys who were running at a pace that did not seem sustainable so did not really bother and indeed managed to pick up the pace catch back 3 of them (still walking while most other runners were alternating run and hike) encouraged by the countless « go Namban go! » and the filming TV crews. 

My breathing was getting really hard,
and I could feel the muscles in my legs (especially the calves) were crying for oxygen and borderline cramping. I was clearly in the red and in the end, lacked the stamina to finish stronger in the last section. One guy overtook me before reaching the tori at the top, but at last I was there getting the Tasuki stamped in almost 42 minutes at the post office. 

No time to think about that time 2 minutes slower than the target, I had already turned back, trying to and struggling to clip the strap of my helmet before reaching the steep part.

I believe I was the only runner with a helmet, but I thought it was worth it as the chances of taking a fall were pretty real (at 50, my reflexes and goat index are not what they used to be). 

I had dreaded the descent.
Not that I was scared of it, but more that I would be unable to approach my target time, but in the end, it felt like I descended pretty fast, and I passed 3 guys on the first section before the flat at the half. Passing runners and the helmet gave me confidence to push and take more risks. The limiting factor at this point seemed more the cardio side than anything else. Another fast guy approached me from above, and I could hear him breathing down my neck. I tried to push to stay ahead, but it was clear he was just faster, so he passed me and finished 20 seconds ahead of me.

A last push and I was already there, ready to pass the Tasuki to Cal, having transformed that team’s upward motion into a crazy downhill movement… Not without dropping that Tasuki first, right in front of the line, and losing yet another half a second to pick it up and pass it to Cal, who started like a rocket. « Go-go-go catch them! » 

After thoughts

In the end, my downhill was 15:39, almost right on target, and the race went exactly the opposite of what I expected, struggling and 2 minutes on the uphill that I thought was my strong point, and running strong and almost on time on that feared downhill section.  Now I want to come back to run stronger so I can cut 40 up and 15 down, and also improve the ranking (I lost one place for the team getting the tasuki in 34th position and passing it back as 35th…)

Leg 7 – Cal – Face plant

I knew it would be difficult for us to make the cutoff. So I rested as best I could — thanks, Eric! — and got ready for the downhill, where I hoped to make up lost time. 

After Martin did a fantastic time coming down, I took the tasuki and set off again. I was in a nice rhythm — as much as you can be sprinting down a 25 ° slope, dodging rocks and hikers in shifting sand and mountain mist — and overtook 3 runners pretty quickly. Then, when the famous Osunabashiri opened up, I had a massive face plant in the gravel 😱What the hell??!!! 

I slid face-first for I don’t know how long and lost all my momentum and confidence. If you saw a dip on Strava, that’s why. So I picked myself up and went as best as I could down to Harrison at the handover. 

Where I stacked again 😱What the hell??!!! 

I was exhausted, wounded, and disappointed cause I knew we’d miss the cutoff. Nonetheless, I was elated. This is one of the most epic and memorable races I’ve participated in. 

On reflection, I was humbled. By the mountain. By my teammates. By other incredible competitors.
By the epic feats of Namban in the past. And by the supporters who made a huge effort to provide supplies — thanks Rie-san / Yuki-san!! — plus medical attention and encouragement. It was a race for some to reach the start of Leg 5 too! Thanks Yumie / Meghna!!!

I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. So I see our result as a positive. 31st place in a field that strong is a great achievement. And while it’s no shame whatsoever, we are now the first Namban team to receive the red tasuki in this event. This gives me, and I hope the club, extra motivation to do better next year. 

Nambatte!

Leg 8 – Harrisson – Self-disappointment

The two-hour wait flew by. The first hour was all about recovering—physically and mentally. The second was spent glued to the radio, the group chat, the live results website… which, as always, stopped working somewhere around the 6th leg.

From 11:40 onwards, I was checking my watch every 30 seconds. If Cal didn’t return by 11:52, we’d miss the kuriage cutoff. Meghna did her best to stay positive, repeating, “Anything’s possible—you can do it!”

But at 11:50, we still had no updates in the group chat.

It slowly dawned on me that I wouldn’t see Corey again for a while.

Then, at 11:52, Eric finally sent word: Cal had left at 11:47. That meant the chances of receiving the tasuki before 11:58 were slim. Very slim.

Still, I was determined to run as hard as I could. Kuriage start or not, our team ranking was still at stake.

I hadn’t practiced that downhill section at all this year, so I knew I wouldn’t be in top form—but seeing that I was nearly a full minute slower than last year hit me hard.

When I reached the finish line, I was completely drained. 

It was just a 9-minute run, but mentally it wiped me out. Normally, the adrenaline rush of passing the tasuki would override everything else. This year, that moment never came.

I couldn’t help but feel I had let the team down. Everyone had given their best.

Kate and Taeko were there to welcome me back—warmly, graciously—grounding me again.

Now, looking at my performance on both the Fuji Tozan and this Ekiden, I am determined to make both of them my main goals of focus for next year!

I would like to express my gratitude towards my teammates, who proudly wore Namban’s colors and gave it everything they had on race day—and to our incredible support crew. You made the day smoother, not just logistically, but mentally as well. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Leg 9 – Corey

Leg 10 – Graham – No give up

The team’s support was great this year, making sure every runner got taken care of once they finished their 1st leg! It was a comfortable rest spot, but the whole time I was nervously watching my phone for updates from the team and whether or not we’d make the 4-hour kuriage start cutoff. 

Everyone did a great job, but we still couldn’t make it 🙁 Despite knowing we’d take the red tasuki, the team never gave up, and we gained 3 places on the downhill sections! The kuriage start made the leg 9/10 handover tough, but Corey did a good job running out towards the front of the pack and executed a great handoff! This propelled me to a good result on the downhill, 18th place on the leg!

Leg 11 – Sean: Sayonara さようなら

From the second leg’s waiting area, I listened to the radio as clouds rolled in, covering the mountain in minutes. The radio commented on the wind picking up above. Our team missed the yellow tatsuki cutoff by about eight minutes. Corey started the 9th leg in the red tatsuki group.

My goal shifted as we could no longer get the yellow tatsuki to the finish line, but switched to getting the best finish we could hand next year’s team.

When I got the tatsuki for the final leg, Corey and Graham had carved out a gap on the other red teams. I ran down the hill, letting gravity work, but saved something for the final 500 meters or so uphill run. 

My only thought was “please, no one Final Surge me”. No one did.

This was my last race in Japan, at least for the foreseeable future. I leave for graduate school in America soon, but this race will stay with me. The intensity, the camaraderie, the mountain hidden in clouds. To me, this Fuji Tozan Ekiden was more than a race; it was a farewell written in sweat and memory.

To my teammates, thank you for sharing the road, the mountain, and the tatsuki with me. This was a brutal, brutal race that demanded something special just to even think of attempting, and I am grateful to have run it alongside everyone. To the supporters, your work before, during, and after the race made everything run seamlessly, from organizing the logistics of moving everyone around to taking memorable pictures and videos of everyone. The Namban community has been a very welcoming group during my time in Japan, and I hope to run with everyone again someday.

 Until then, thank you for everything, and may no one fall victim to a Final Surge

Sean is leaving Tokyo, wishing him good luck!

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

From the team:

Big “Thank You” to our support crew team (alphabetical order)

• Alexis
• Ayumi
• Eric
• Kate
• Meghna
• Rie
• Taeko
• Yumie
• Yuki

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