A week after the run, I finally managed to write something about this race. It's my second 50k in my life.
This is the first UTMB event in Japan, and since I'm living in Taiwan (just a 3-4 hour flight away), it was a no-brainer for me to join! :) The race is happening in Ishikawa prefecture, specifically in Yamanaka Onsen near Kaga city. It's a quaint mountain town with beautiful shrines all around and an awesome local vibe. A really charming spot with tons of small restaurants, local shops, and coffee houses.
You can pick from three distances: 100K, 50K, and 20K. Personally, the 100K is still too much for me, and thankfully, I didn't sign up for it (I'll share more about what happened with the 100K later). The 50K race in this event is actually 57K with around 2700m of elevation gain and a 13-hour time limit. Here's the profile and some details (though, the elevation wasn't quite right—my Garmin showed 2470m).
I also noticed that the profile was a bit misleading. The section between Imadate and Sandoshi had more ups and downs and was much longer than it appeared on the profile.
This is my second UTMB race, with my first being Translantau by UTMB in Hong Kong, so I will be comparing the two.
Pre-Race
I got there on Thursday, the first day of the Expo, to pick up my starter pack. Parking was pretty well organized and easy to find since they gave me a PDF with a parking slot and a QR code with directions. The only downside was that the parking was about 1.6 km from the venue, so there was quite a bit of a walk. Picking up the pack was a breeze, with no lines or anything (not sure how it was on the second day). The starter pack was pretty basic: a t-shirt, drop bag, bib, an extra "bib" with your country flag, and an extra chip to attach to your backpack. Compared to my experience at UTMB Hong Kong, the Expo in Kaga was way better, with lots of options and things to try out. Some booths had great deals, and I ended up buying some stuff from Buff. :)
Finally, I'd just like to mention that the town had an awesome vibe. It looks like the local community is really behind this event, with posters all over the place—in local shops, coffee houses, you name it. Plus, some local stores even offer discounts for runners, which is pretty cool! It's tough to compare this to Hong Kong, where an event like this might get lost in such a massive city. But here, we're talking about a small town nestled in the mountains.
Just a heads-up about this race... accommodation is crazy expensive near the venue. The prices were outrageous, so I chose to stay much further away (about a 50-minute drive). I’m using Airbnb and renting a small car, which turned out to be way cheaper than staying close by.
Race
So, on race day again, I parked at the local school's football field. There were staff members there helping folks park their cars. But, just like before, it was a long walk... probably around 20-25 minutes, which wasn't ideal.
Once we got to the venue, everything went smoothly. Dropping off bags and even the lines for the toilets weren't too long, especially after the 20K runners headed off to catch the shuttle bus to their start line, which was in a different location.
One thing that had everyone concerned was the weather for the day. The temperature was expected to hit around 34-35°C. It was going to be really hot, and the 50K race was starting at 8:30 AM for the first wave, with the second wave just 10 minutes later.
Before start some local kids were performing which was pretty cool:)
At the starting line, I messed up and ended up at the back of my second wave, which ended up costing me over 30 minutes later on. I thought the first part (over 9km with a 600m climb) would start off pretty flat on a regular road, and I figured the crowd would spread out before we hit the single trail and the real climbing began. Boy, was I wrong. After just 4km, we ran into the first of three traffic jams on a steep climb and a single track. I get that these things happen, but in Hong Kong, it only happened once and took me about 10 minutes to get going again. Here, though, in the first 9km, I hit three traffic jams, and according to my Garmin, it cost me around 30-35 minutes total. That's a lot, especially since the cut-off time for this race is pretty tight. I saw a lot of people struggling with the heat and hills, which made it easy to create traffic jams. I later heard the 100k runners had the same issue, with jams lasting 40-45 minutes. I'd say that's just bad planning.
Once we got to the first aid station, we hit a nice, runnable downhill stretch. Some folks had a tough time with the descent, slowing others down. At the base of the mountain, the race crew was there, spraying everyone with water to help us cool off.
The next part was a bit tough—not much uphill, but mostly on tar roads with hardly any shade. At least the views were pretty nice though! :)
My strategy was to jog slowly through the sunny parts to get out of the sun faster, then cool down by walking in the shade. I think it worked out pretty well. Plus, I made sure to bring enough sodium pills and keep an eye on how many I was taking.
As you go along (and at every station), you'll find race staff ready to spray you with cold water. There's even a stop where local families with their kids pitch in to help runners beat the heat :)
Once we passed the next two aid stations, we finally hit the regular trail again, tackled a little climb, and headed down to the 4th aid station. This one was super important since the next station was 10.7km away and involved climbing over 700m in elevation.
This was the key stop... you’ve got to eat, drink, and refill to gear up for what’s coming. But, there was a bit of a food shortage here... when I went for a second piece of banana, they were already gone (more on the aid station shortages later).
After a bit on the paved road, we hit the trail, and that's where I said goodbye to my new French buddy who lives in Singapore and started the climb. This part of the trail was tough—super hot and steep. Tons of people were stopping to stretch and take breaks; it was definitely the hardest section of the whole course. But hey, I managed to pass over 200 people here! The next aid station had the highest number of dropouts in the race. On the plus side, most of the trail was nicely shaded!
Before you get to CP2, there's a small aid station in the forest where you can refill your water. It was a lifesaver because I was almost out, even though I had an extra 250ml handheld bottle along with my two 500ml soft flasks. CP2 was just 2.5km away, but for some reason, it felt a lot farther! :)
At CP2, I noticed more food shortages. It wasn't a big deal for me since I had some snacks, but I saw the organizers running low on fruits. There was still some solid food available, though.
Between CP2 and the last aid station, there was another climb, but it was way shorter than the one we just tackled. The view from this hill was the best yet:
In this section, there were a few muddy spots that you need to watch out for, and some people had a bit of trouble with them. But honestly, they weren't as bad as what I've seen in other races. 😉
The last aid station still had plenty of food, including local plum jellies that were slightly frozen, offering a refreshing coolness. (By the way, all the drinks like water, coke, tea, and sports drinks along the route were warm... looks like there wasn't any ice to chill them a bit :/).
Only 6.8 km to go and barely any uphill, so I knew I'd be fine. I just enjoyed the last stretch, and actually ran the final 2 km at a pretty decent pace for me! :)
I finally wrapped it up with a solid time of 11h 23min and snagged the 294th spot out of 905 participants, with 250 not finishing. Not too shabby, though I was aiming for under 11 hours... but hey, three traffic jams and the scorching weather slowed me down. Still, I'm happy since it's an improvement from Hong Kong in 2023.
Post-Race:
Once you finish the race, you'll get a medal and a finisher vest. The food choices for runners are basically instant noodles and water. I didn't eat anything since I wasn't really hungry. You can also hit up a local onsen (hot spring) to clean up and chill out for 500 YEN. The toughest part was the 1.6km walk back to the car, which included a pretty decent climb... not exactly fun after running 56km! :)
Summary:
Overall, I had a good time at the event. Being in the middle of the pack meant I didn't run into the food shortages that some others, especially in the 100K, faced. I can't really complain about the pre-race and post-race setups. That said, there were a few big issues during the race itself, which were even more noticeable for the 100K runners. Here are the top three issues I noticed:
Aid stations didn't have enough food, especially for the slower runners. A friend I met in the first 20k of the race, who finished about 1.5 hours after me, mentioned that the last two aid stations were out of food by the time he got there.
The route was interesting, with several scenic and runnable sections on the trail. However, I would prefer less paved road and more trail, as there was too much road and not enough trail for my liking.
Traffic jams might be due to poor route planning or maybe the organizers got too greedy and sold too many bibs. It's the first race where I've been stuck in traffic jams so many times for so long. If they keep the same route next year, I'm not joining and will look for more interesting races instead.
On the bright side, the expo, vibe, location, and overall experience outside of the race were way better than in Hong Kong (though, to be fair, the Hong Kong race itself was organized better). The volunteers and locals were awesome; they made us feel really welcome and supported, even though the organizers didn't give them much to work with. As usual, I met a few like-minded folks on the route and had some great chats—one of the things I absolutely love about ultras!
Here's how my personal goals went: I didn't get under 11 hours, but I did better than I did in Hong Kong. I never hit the wall and got my nutrition and hydration just right. I felt awesome the whole race and still had energy left at the end! :) Plus, I never once asked myself, "Why am I doing this?"... maybe I didn't push hard enough? :) Next up is UTMB in Malaysia this September!
