Kyoto Ekiden 2015

Before I came out to Japan, I’d read about the unique style of relay races in Japan and hoped that one day I could experience it for myself. The Kyoto Prefecture Ekiden is held annually in Sandanike Park in Fukuchiyama. Each town and city in the prefecture can enter a team. This year there were 22 teams. I was selected to run with the Kyotamba team, my connection to the town being that I teach at the town’s senior high school.

An Ekiden has several unique features. The most obvious is the role of the Tasuki (sash). Each team has one sash which the runners must wear or carry and pass on to the next runner. Another is the nature of the course. When I did the National Road Relay Championships 12-stage in England, each ‘leg’ or section starts and finishes at the same place. However, the Kyoto Ekiden had a 38KM length course, with each of the 8 sections set out at a different point along the route. For the Kyoto Ekiden, each team had to be comprised of at least one male and one female junior high school student, one male and one female senior high school student, one adult female and one adult male – with a free choice given for the remaining two runners! I got given section 3 to run, which at 7.1KM, was also the longest.

On the bus to the start of my leg with the other section 3 runners, I got talking to a university student from the Kameoka team who told me that his personal best for 5000M was 14:20 and that he went out to Iten in Kenya last summer to train. I started to feel out of my depth and hoped that my team would not be too disappointed with my time.

The race started at 11am and the first two sections were each 3KM long. The first section was to be ran by female adult runners and the second by female senior high school student runners. I saw the first runner from section 2 round the bend in the road and come into view at 11:19 and head towards the changeover point where I was stood. I watched keenly so I could observe how to receive and also how to hand over the Tasuki. Kyotamba were in 14^th place by this point. The section 2 girl in my team held the Tasuki out to me and I grabbed it and turned in one quick motion and started out down the road in my first Ekiden!

Knees up: rest and ice did the trick

The runners ahead of me were well clear by this point. I had jogged the race route the day before so I knew what to expect - an undulating course through some small rural villages. It was a bit windy and cold but with clear skies. Some spectators lined parts of the race route and I could hear them say, “Kyotamba” as I ran along as it was emblazoned across my vest in Kanji. Sadly I lost three places. I’d missed 3 weeks of training in January as I tripped and fell and landed on my right knee on a concrete floor causing a lot of pain. I was just happy to recover enough to do this race, though I certainly tried to run my best.

Section 3 results

As I approached the changeover point, I took the Tasuki off and held it taut between my right and left hands, with arms outstretched shoulder width apart, as I’d seen the other runners do earlier. The junior high school boy section 4 runner in my team grabbed it and sped off only a few seconds behind the 16^th placed runner. My time was 25 minutes 23 secs, the 17^th fastest or 6^th slowest of the section depending on which way you look at it! The lad I’d spoken to earlier from the Kameoka team ran a stunning 20:56, which was inside the section record, but a runner from Kyoto City had topped that with 20:54.

Kameoka`s section 8 runner taking the victory

After a quick warm down the section 3 runners were bussed back to the start/finish point of the Ekiden. At 1pm the section 8 runners started coming in. Kameoka were the winning team this year! Kyotamba finished 18^th. The standard of running was high and I feel privileged to have taken part in this Ekiden to represent Kyotamba. It has certainly inspired me to try and improve my running times and I hope to run this race again next year.

 

Kyotamba finishing in 18th place