A new race

 

There’s something about the first race an organizer puts on that always leaves an air of uncertainty surrounding the event. Such was the case coming into the 1st edition of the Ogose, Saitama based Around Toki River 50k trail race.(To be specific, according to the race’s ITRA listing, the course is recorded as 56.7km with 3160m of elevation gain/loss.) 

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The race was put on by NPO, Saitama Ultra Project, along with collaboration and support from other race organizers in the area, like Fun Trails. The course had some similarities and cross-over with others put on in the area, such as other NPO and Trainic World races. It took place near the tail of summer on September 10th, 2023. 

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I use the expression tail-end of summer, but this summer in particular has been one of the hotter ones in recent history. On race day, temperatures were still in the mid 30s celsius and sunny throughout most of the day. This was one reason that race organizers required racers to carry 1.5L of hydration along with a pack of OS-1 jelly, a rehydration solution that is often used in cases of dehydration or heat stroke. 

There were a few things that appealed to me that caused me to join. First off, I was looking for something to keep me motivated through the hot summer months here in Japan. Having a tough race on the schedule near the end of the summer kept me pushing through early mornings, heat, humidity and lack of motivation to keep up my fitness to be able to handle a mountainous ultra marathon like this. 

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Another motivating factor for entering this race was that I had the notion of entering a longer trail race in November (FTR Chichibu & Oku-Musashi 105km). However, one of the qualifiers of entering this November race is the prerequisite of having completed 2 trail races over 50km in distance. Throughout 2022 and 2023 I had completed several trail races culminating in the DEEP JAPAN ULTRA 80km race I did in Niigata this past June. However that was the only race I had done over the 50 km distance thus far, so I was one race short. (As an aside, in the summer of 2022 while back in Canada visiting family, a friend and I completed a 48km trail race, which consisted of 4 laps around a provincial park. Unfortunately it was 2km short of 50k and wouldn't count.)   

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Another WHY for me is probably my strongest, and the reason I almost solely enter trail races over road races these days. This is the pure joy of getting to spend time outside in nature, explore forests and mountains in Japan and enjoy the beauty of it all. I have a fairly busy and structured life most of the time. Between work and family commitments, I hardly ever get to spend time in vast nature and mountains. So a race that would let me spend all day running, hiking, walking and exploring nature, despite the pain and suffering that would no doubt come with it, sounded pretty ideal. 

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Getting there

One of the reasons I haven’t joined certain races in the past, particularly longer races, is the early start times. As I don't have a car and need to take public transportation to races, I have often been unable to join a race or longer course distance within a given race, because I can’t make it to the start in time. The Around Toki River race set their schedule so that I was able to take the first train from Northern Chiba prefecture at 5am, get to Ogose station in Saitama and then catch a shuttle bus to the venue at 7:15 am. The shuttle took less than 15 minutes to take us to the venue, which was at New Suntopia Hotel and Resort Ogose.( A bonus of events being held at this venue is the complimentary onsen soak offered to participants following the race.) The race itself had a mass start at 8:15 am. 

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The pre-race 

I got to the race venue a little before 7:30 am, it was all fairly simple to check-in, get my race bib, drop my bag off and get ready to go.

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In addition to the 1.5L of hydration and the OS-1 gel pack, racers were also required to bring with them the following items: A personal cup for aid stations, a rain jacket, a paper map of the course (distributed at reception), a mobile phone, a mobile phone battery, a headlight, an emergency sheet, poison remover, a first aid kit, salt candy or magnesium tablets and small change which could be used for public transportation back to the venue upon retiring. 

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With my race pack loaded and pockets full of gels, bars and snacks, I made my way to the start line. I stood next to an acquaintance as we chatted about how hot the day was already, despite barely being eight in the morning. My friend, (a seasoned ultra-trail racer) and I both had the intention of taking it easy in the early miles, starting in the middle of the pack and easing into our long day in the mountains, under the late summer sun. 

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A hot day and a tough course

From the get go, I knew this race would be a challenge and push my abilities. As you may have noticed earlier in the report, the race only had a 37.9% finish rate. This is by far the lowest finishing rate I’ve experienced in a race and I’m sure it’s not a result the organizers want to repeat in subsequent editions.  

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Let me outline a few reasons I think may have accounted for this low finish rate. Firstly, despite being in mountains and under cover of forest shade for a good deal of the race, the conditions were harsh. I considered myself fairly acclimatized to the heat and humidity by running most days throughout the summer, but even still, I was usually only outside for a few hours at a time, not the whole day. This race required racers to be out in the summer heat all day, running, hiking and climbing. I’m certain the heat played a major factor in the number of dropouts. 

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Keeping your body in good shape all day through the heat is no small task. It requires constant checking in with yourself and being able to gauge what you need to do to keep moving for hours and hours. If you slack on hydration or nutrition for a few hours in the heat, it’s easy to bonk or get yourself into a hole that may be difficult to come out of. 

For myself I made sure to keep a mental note of staying hydrated and somewhat cool. I consistently had 3 bottles filled as I went from aid station to aid station and frequently doused myself in water when I had the chance. I kept one stap-on water bottle in my hand and 2 in my pack. In extreme heat conditions I think it’s also essential to keep tabs on your sodium consumption. As such I also made sure to take in salty snacks, candy or sports drinks on a regular basis.

Another aspect that I think some people struggled with was the course and the cutoff times. The course was around 55km long and included over 3000m of elevation gain and loss. There was an overall cutoff of 11 hours for the course, with individual aid station cutoffs along the way. 11 hours for 55km doesn't immediately sound too intimidating, but combine that with constant climbing and descending, extreme heat and course markings that were often not easy to follow, and I can see how so many people dropped or timed out. 

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One of the dropouts came from my friend who I started with. Keep in mind, he is a very strong and confident runner, having completed multiple 100k races and recently had even completed this year’s Ultra Trail Mt. Fuji at over 160km. What he succumbed to on this day was a bee sting that caused his foot extreme pain and swelling to the point that he couldn't continue running. So count bees and bugs as another challenge of the course. I did frequently notice large bees and hornets hovering close by as I was running and hiking, which was often quite unnerving. 

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Follow the leader

I’ll next briefly touch on the difficulty associated with the course markings. Racers are, of course, expected to be able to navigate trail races without necessarily relying on a perfectly marked course. This is one of many factors that separates trail races from road races, you can’t just switch off and follow along with complete ease. At registration for the race, we were all given paper maps of the course and we were expected to download the course GPX files to our phones or watches. I had the course on my watch and phone but still had trouble following along at points. 

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I certainly wasn't alone with this problem either. I specifically remember one moment upon coming out of an aid station over halfway through the course. I descended a small hill to reach an intersection of sorts. There were a few other runners there too, who had just stopped and were milling about. The problem for myself and the small group was that none of us were sure which direction to go as there were no markings. We had 3 options, go left, go right or go down further. We all stood there for minutes trying to decide what to do before someone finally pulled out the map on their phone and decided to make a move. 

There were numerous other times similar to this moment for me throughout my day, when I felt an unease as to whether I was still on the course or not. I did have the GPX route on my watch, but the watch is fairly basic so there isn't much of a map to follow on the screen. Using this feature on my watch also significantly drains the battery, so around 7 hours into the run my watch shut off completely, only adding to the unease. 

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It was the times when I was completely alone in the trails and mountains when I really started to question myself. When you’re with a group or even one more person you feel more at ease that you both can’t be messing things up, but it’s when you’re all alone in vast nature, that’s when the doubt starts to creep in. I know others who have been in this situation can relate. 

There was a defining moment of this around 30 km or so into the course after being alone for a good 45 minutes or so when I came across another runner. I was moving faster than he was and he motioned for me to pass, I told him I was okay not to pass and proceeded to run with him for nearly the remainder of the race. This turned out to be one of the highlights of the race for me as we spent a good deal of time chatting and running together, pushing each other at certain points and going through aid stations together. 

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Rollin ‘round the rivers

I had been moving and feeling fairly well up until this point. I took the first half of the race at a fairly relaxed pace and leisurely enjoyed the aid stations. As the morning turned into the afternoon and I wasn't progressing through the course as quickly as I initially anticipated, I knew it was time to kick things up a bit. Particularly as the sun began to ease its way down beyond the horizon and cut offs at aid stations were getting tighter, I started to feel anxiety I hadn't felt in a race before. I was determined not to lose to the course. 

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I mentioned in my intro that I had completed a mountainous 50 miler this past June, the DEEP JAPAN ULTRA in Niigata. It was certainly challenging, but the cut-off for that 80km course was set at 24 hours, with a finish rate well over 80%. So with 55km distance and even more elevation per km, in many ways the Around Toki River race was my toughest challenge to date.  

I’ll roughly describe the layout of the course, including the ample and well-stocked 6 aid stations along the way. The race is officially called “Around Toki River - Ten Peaks Trail Run” Although I couldn’t exactly count all the peaks along the way, it certainly felt like 10 peaks of climbing by the time I was finished. 

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Looking at the course map and profile, it’s a loop course that in my eyes basically has 5 climbs and descents. There’s 2 shorter climbs and descents in the first half, followed by a longer climb to the highest points on the course, taking you up to around 800m - 1000m elevation, with some great views. You spend about 15 km or so running up on the high points of the course and then have to come down for two more shortish climbs and descents.  Although none of these shortish climbs are much longer than 3 km, they add up over time and certainly by the last 2km climb, which was over 300m of climbing, while 50km into the race, I was pretty taxed to say the least.  

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Thankfully, my physical condition was fairly good throughout the race. I kept up with my hydration and nutrition pretty much throughout the day, right until the point that it started getting dark and I was making my push in the last 15 km or so. I only remember cramping up slightly near the end of the race but was able to push through that without much of an issue. 

I should mention that having 6 aid stations over 55 km was very much appreciated and helped me significantly. With the first aid station being around 14 km in, they then appeared every 6 or 7km after that. They were stocked with a great selection of foods and snacks suited for a summer's day. Items included pickled cucumbers, bananas, inari sushi, cold udon noodles, watermelon, red bean soup, sports drinks, water, cola and more. 

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Racing the Sun

As darkness neared and I started climbing the course’s final peak, my legs begged for the ascending to stop, I longed to get back to the descents which I thrive at and enjoy the most. I frequently checked my phone (my watch was long dead), it was past 5 pm and visibility was getting worse, but I made a goal in my head to not have to take out my headlamp. When I finally reached that final peak, I felt extremely satisfied but knew I had to keep pressing on the final 4 km or so taking us back to the resort. I was delighted to realize that the final section was mostly all downhill and almost entirely on roads. Roads I was familiar with from my daily runs, I knew I could move fast on roads, especially going downhill. The cutoff anxiety started to fade, but I pressed on, trying to keep up with another racer who also decided now was the time to empty the tank and make a final push. 

Although we were about 10 or so meters apart we flew down the roads together, passing people who were walking or hiking it in. Before long the finish line was in sight and I even had enough left in me to get in my traditional sprint finish. My race was finished, minus headlamp of course, as darkness was all that remained of the day. 

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It was now just after 6pm, over 10 hours since I started, I was tired and ready for a soak in the onsen. I met my friend who had suffered the bee sting earlier in the day. He had a few stories of his own about having to get public transportation back to the race venue after hobbling along on a swollen foot for hours. After a well earned soak, the organizers provided a return shuttle back to Ogose station at 7:30pm that many racers opted for, myself included. It was then time for a 2 hour train ride home where I tried to relax and make sense of the day’s events. 

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It was a successful race, one that the organizers, myself and other racers may have underestimated just a bit. It was plenty challenging and left me with my goal of completing another 50km mountain ultra. I was spent and satisfied and tried to keep the following idea out of my head, at least for a few days. Now that I had completed this race I’d be able to qualify to take part in one twice as long with about twice the elevation gain. 

Such is the life of a runner I suppose. Limits are meant to be pushed and pain is only temporary.  And besides this next race wouldn't be in summer, how hard could it be? 

PS - How to fix the low finish rate?

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As an afterword, I thought I would try to address how the organizers (NPO-SUP) could fix and improve upon the low finish rate for future editions moving forward. I don't necessarily believe a low finish rate is bad for a race, but when it starts to creep below 50% I think there can be some things done to tweak the tournament to allow more participants to finish it and come away with a more positive experience. 

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With that said, I don’t think there are easy answers in the case of Around Toki River. As I mentioned, in my estimation the major hurdles to the low finish rate were heat, cutoff times and the course itself. 

In terms of heat, the obvious answer is to hold the race in fall or spring when conditions aren't so harsh. There’s a reason major marathons and races around the world often take place in the fall or early spring, it’s to create the best conditions and fastest times for its participants. 

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The next issues are tied together. Often the harder or more challenging a course is, the longer the cutoff times. The 11 hour cutoff time simply wasn’t enough for many on this course. 

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For a mountain ultra marathon at over 55km and 3000m vertical gain and loss, I’ve seen cutoffs for similar courses set somewhere around 12 or 13 hours, sometimes even 14 hours. I think in the case of this tournament if they had raised the cutoff even an hour, to 12 hours instead of 11, there would be many more finishers. 

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I do understand however, that to maintain desired start and finish times of the race, extending the cutoff is not always possible. For example, the race as it took place had a start time of 8:15am and a finish cutoff of 7:15pm. A shuttle bus was then available at 7:30pm. Bumping the startime to 7am or 6am could solve some of these problems but then it would create the problem I’ve had in the past of not being able to arrive at the race venue in time for the start. 

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One of the reasons I was able to join this race was because it started at 8:15am and I was able to arrive on time via public transportation. You could end the race later, but then you may have some problems making sure everyone gets back to the venue, is able to catch a shuttle or train and stays safe running in the dark.

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I think a logical suggestion could be to alter the course to make it a bit easier, you could cut out a few kms in the distance and a few hundred meters in climbing. However, for myself I was indeed searching for a race over 50 km in distance with a good amount of vert, so I dont think this is necessarily the answer either. The course was named ‘Ten Peaks Trail Run’ so to remove 1 or 2 of those peaks may not be an option. 

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The 2nd annual Around Toki RIver Race

I believe this race will indeed see a second edition and it will take place in a similar timeframe, perhaps a week or two later than it was scheduled this year. I have a feeling the organizers will shoot for a finish rate closer to 60% or higher moving forward, so I wouldn't be surprised if the cutoff is extended to 12 hours or more and the course is changed to make it a bit easier.  

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James Mallion 2023

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