Skip to main content

Ultra Runner Osada Does 50 Ascents of Mount Takao in Three Days (updated)



Best-known for taking on a solo 100-miler around a single tree along a riverbank near his home in the early weeks of the pandemic, ultra runner Goshi Osada was back at it this week with another solo challenge. This time Osada tackled western Tokyo's Mount Takao, a popular recreational trail hike peaking out at 599 m. 

Starting on Monday, Osada attempted 50 consecutive round trips of a 4 km loop up and down the mountain, starting at around 240 m, going to the summit, and back down. Running through the night and covering each lap of the partially snow-covered course in about 50 minutes, he completed the 50th lap late Wednesday night for a total distance of 200 km with 18,000 m total climb and double that for total elevation change. 

Osada estimated that he slept for a total of 5 hours over the three days and burned over 21,000 kcal. "I was constantly refueling," he said. Post-run he told JRN, "Over the last two years all the races I'd been targeting were canceled, and that hurt my motivation. Doing 50 laps of Mount Takao was something I'd thought about for years, and when I decided to do it all the forgotten passion came back right before I started. This was a tough goal and there wasn't any guarantee that I'd be able to finish it, but saying publicly that I was going to do it put pressure on myself to perform."

"I was very nervous that if I fell even once on one of the technical sections it could radically change the situation, and I felt a lot pressure about being extra careful on the last two laps so that something didn't happen. But thanks to the process and methodology I've refined in my running up to this point I was able to get through both those situations and my own limitations. It might have been a bit of a reckless challenge to set myself, but I believed I could do it and a lot of people helped me make it a reality. Thanks to them it's something I'll never forget."


photo c/o Goshi Osada, all rights reserved
text © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for  a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more