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Chinese Duo Jiaju Zhao and Fuzhao Xiang Dominate UTMF

The morning of Apr. 22 China's Jiaju Zhao arrived at Fujikyu Highland Conifer Forest in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, the finish point of the Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji long course race, covering the 164.7 km distance in 19:35:24 to take the win. Yuya Kawasaki was a close 2nd in 19:54:57, with 1:01:37 half marathoner Tomonori Onitsuka 3rd in 20:59:25. Just under 5 hours later, Zhao's teammate Fuzhao Xiang won the women's long course race in 24:14:51 to make it a Chinese debutant double. Xiang said that she ran in memory of the late Liang Jin , 2nd at UTMF in 2019. UTMF is an international trail race through the foothills of Mt. Fuji, put on with international-quality environmental awareness and race management. A total of 3400 people ran this year between the long course and the 68.4 km short course race, the most in the event's history, and international athletes were welcomed back for the first time since 2019. Japanese athletes took the short course races, with Kento Tamur...
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UTMF Returns

Spanning three days beginning Friday, Apr. 22, the Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji returned this weekend after cancelations the last two years during the pandemic, with great weather across the course around the foot of Mt. Fuji through Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. 1,808 people ran the UTMF 165 km long course, with another 489 in the KAI 69 km short course, all of them enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Fuji as they ran its trails. Among them were some of the country's best trail athletes, making for the first elite-level trail race in Japan in a long time. Covering 157.9 km with 6388 km total elevation gain, the UTMF 165 km division race started at Fujisan Kodomonokuni park in Fuji, Shizuoka and finished at the Fujikyu Highlands amusement park in Yamanashi in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. With a course change announced on Apr. 20 that cut out some of the hilliest sections and kept runners on shorter and flatter forest roads, 2019 4th-placer Masatoshi Obara took the lead in the early stages...
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UTMF, Gifu Half, Hyogo Relay Carnival and More - Weekend Preview

It's a busy weekend ahead, with a major trail race, a half marathon, and at least three high-level track meets going on across the country. The Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji is already underway, 100 miles around the foothills of Japan's most recognizable landmark in the long course race. It doesn't factor into national team selection for next year's World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, but UTMF is still the most prestigious trail race in the country. Catch streaming here and on the UTMF Youtube channel .  Leaderboard and athlete tracking here . Sunday is the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , in normal years Japan's only WA gold label half marathon and still one of its most competitive in this still not normal year. 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) leads the women's field with her 1:07:56 CR at that race, her main competition on paper coming from Aussie veteran Sinead Diver , 1:08:50 at Marugame two years ago but a DNF...
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Today's Race - 2019 Ultra Trail Mount Fuji

NHK's coverage of the 2019 UTMF race.
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Today's Race - 2018 Ultra Trail Mount Fuji

NHK's coverage of the 2018 UTMF, a 168 km trail ultra around Mount Fuji. Part two below.
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Because It's There - One Man, One Tree, One Hundred Miles

Last weekend saw what will probably end up as one of the best distance running performances of 2020. In Tokyo's western suburbs, on a riverbank, around a tree, for 54 hours and 40 minutes, 25-year-old Goshi Osada ran 10,667 laps of a 15 m trail with 1 m difference between its highest and lowest points, covering 100 miles, just over 160 km, and climbing higher than Mount Everest and back down en route. Post-run JRN talked to Osada, a rising name on the trail ultra scene in Japan and Asia, about the why and how. Looking at your history, it looks like you started doing ultras after graduating from university. I started doing trail running during the summer of my senior year at Tokyo Kokusai University. The runs were really short in the beginning, about 20 or 30 km. From there I started building up the distance to the point where I could do high-level races, and that’s where I am now after four years. In university were you doing ekidens and track and field? Yes, I used to ...
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