Takigahara SDF Base Wins Mt. Fuji Ekiden Again

Along with Akita's Towada Hachimantai Ekiden another midsummer classic returned Sunday after cancelations in 2020 and 2021, the 47th edition of the Mt. Fuji Ekiden. An eleven-stage race featuring 82 teams of six, the Mt. Fuji Ekiden sees the first five runners on each team work their way up the slopes of Mt. Fuji, first on roads and then on trails. The sixth runners climbs the final few kilometers to the summit 3258 m above the race's starting point, has his tasuki sash stamped by a priest at the shrine waiting there, then begins the descent.

The first five runners then have to each a second time, downhill this time. Some of the downhill stages are wild, with powdery gravel covering steep slopes, and scenes like this one from 2014 at the exchange from the Seventh to Eighth Stage, are legendary. Spectators make the climb to the exchange zones just to see it happen. Doesn't it look like fun?

The video up top is from the last edition in 2019, when the Takigahara SDF Base scored a fifth-straight win. When the city of Gotemba uploads a highlights video from this year it'll be added, but what you'll see is a double threepeat from Takigahara, with the unstoppable base team covering the full 48.19 km roundtrip course in 3:45:56 to the top position for the sixth time in a row. Military teams went 1st through 6th, the top club team being 2019's top club the Shimizu Running Club at 7th in 4:05:44. 

Average pace per km for stage winners went as slow as 10:19/km on the ascent and as fast as 2:07/km on the descending version of the same stage. Former Aoyama Gakuin University star Yuhi Akiyama (Top Gear),  Toru Miyahara (Takigahara SDF Base), Hitoshi Okuhira (Kokubun SDF Base) and Toshihiro Hayashi (Moriyama 35th Infantry Regiment) came close, but this year nobody pulled off the holy grail Mt. Fuji double of winning both their uphill and downhill stages. Complete results from the SDF base division are here, with club team results here.

You hate to overuse the word iconic, but what could be more iconic than an ekiden up and down Mt. Fuji? It's almost a given that the organizers don't think that way, but this seems like a race that would be a prime choice for a top international team that wanted to come and give an ekiden a go. Maybe next year, or three years down the road at the 50th.

47th Mt. Fuji Ekiden

Mt. Fuji, 7 Aug. 2022

11 stages, 48.19 km, 3258 m ascent/3199 m descent, 82 teams, 6 runners per team

complete results

Top Individual Stage Results

First Stage (6.54 km, 243 m ascent)

Yuhi Akiyama (Top Gear) - 20:55 (3:12/km)

Second Stage (4.64 km, 345 m ascent)

Shota Kobayashi (Takigahara SDF Base) - 18:21 (3:57/km)

Third Stage (4.54 km, 371 m ascent)

Yoshiyuki Hara (Takigahara SDF Base) - 18:24 (4:03/km)

Fourth Stage (2.84 km, 664 m ascent)

Tatsuya Itagaki (Kannami RC) - 26:35 (9:22/km)

Fifth Stage (4.24 km, 1017 m ascent)

Toru Miyahara (Takigahara SDF Base) - 43:45 (10:19km)

Sixth Stage (4.92 km, 618 m ascent to summit, 618 m descent)

Ryuichi Sato (Rumoi SDF Base) - 41:20 (8:24/km)

Seventh Stage (3.66 km, 1017 m descent)

Tomoki Ito (18th Infantry Regiment) - 7:45 (2:07/km)

Eighth Stage (2.59 km, 664 m descent)

Ryota Yuzawa (Takigahara SDF Base) - 6:38 (2:34/km)

Ninth Stage (4.44 km, 371 m descent)

Hitoshi Okuhira (Kokubun SDF Base) - 11:48 (2:39/km)

Tenth Stage (4.64 km, 345 m descent)

Yoshiki Murase (2nd Infantry Regiment) - 11:55 (2:34/km)

Eleventh Stage (4.88 km, 184 m descent)

Toshihiro Hayashi (Moriyama 35th Infantry Regiment) - 15:37 (3:12/km)

Top Team Results

1. Takigahara SDF Base - 3:45:56

2. 2nd Infantry Regiment - 3:58:00

3. Rumoi SDF Base - 3:58:48

4. Kokubun SDF Base - 4:01:11

5. 1st Airborne Brigade - 4:02:16

6. Nerima 1st Infantry Regiment - 4:04:27

7. Shimizu Running Club - 4:05:44

8. Moriyama 35th Infantry Regiment - 4:10:36

9. Team Kibidango - 4:12:26

10. Hachioji Fujimori Running Club - 4:15:02

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved