The Mt. Fuji Ekiden: The Toughest Relay on Earth

Photos and text by Brian Vernor

In 2013, I made a film called "Finding Strong," produced by Runner's World in partnership with Saucony. One part of that film focused on Japanese National Guardsmen competing in the annual Mt. Fuji Ekiden (a six-person team relay event). I was impressed with the group mindset of the Guardsmen's team, and their belief that only as a team member can they each achieve a better performance than they could as an individual. The grueling 29-mile relay has runners climb 10,495 feet before descending back down the mountain. The stage for the race, the newly named UNESCO World Heritage site Mt. Fuji, was unforgettable as well.

After filming the event in 2013 I was determined to return to the mountain and enter the race with my own team. This photo essay is from my participation in the 2014 running of the Mt. Fuji Ekiden.

The start of the race is at the Gotemba City track just a short distance down the road from the Takigahara National Guard base. The track gives the event a more formal feeling than a typical road start.

The Mt. Fuji Ekiden winner's trophy comes from the emperor of Japan. Nobody is allowed to touch it with bare hands, which would be like touching the emperor himself.

Various local scouting groups for boys and girls help introduce the teams during the opening ceremony the day before the race.

Prior to the race, my team went up the mountain to try out techniques for descending. We tried leaping, leaning back, leaning forward, and well, flying. I can't say what worked best but it was an incredible experience that was more like free-falling than anything else.

Maybe skipping is the best technique?

Looking south of Fuji at 6 a.m. on race day. I felt like it was going to be a good day.

The National Guard is the support crew for the race. Here, a medical transport sits at the base of the Gotemba Trail, the last point vehicles can reach before service men go out on foot. The top of Mt. Fuji is shrouded in clouds in the background.

The National Guard, presiding over the race. Unsettling symbolism.

This is the host National Guard team from Camp Takigahara. Prior to the last two races where they came in second, Takigahara won the Ekiden five years in a row.

The Mt. Fuji Ekiden ascends and descends the Gotemba Trail route to the top of the mountain. The Gotemba Trail is one of the three main routes to the top.

The first stage for each runner is all uphill at a considerable elevation. Some runners understandably have nothing left at the end. Some runners make a show of having given it their all. It is culturally important to do so in any team event in Japan. However, this particular runner was just done.

Runners around the world like to have goals. I can say that I have at least one goal in common with this runner.

The entire mountain is a shrine and runners symbolically enter through an arch, around the halfway point of the race, at the beginning of the Gotemba Trail.

After the uphill stage, racers can wait for over three hours before starting their downhill, reverse stage. With some support, racers switch clothes while waiting and try to dry out their kits. National Guardsmen are scattered throughout the course both as supporters for their respective teams and to ensure the safety of all runners. I didn't see any significant medical incidents but there is plenty of support in case of emergency.

The Mt. Fuji Ekiden is nearly mythological and it draws many different types of runners. Not every participant is a portrait of modern health. Despite the smoke break, I'm sure this National Guardsman beat my time up and down the mountain.

The pumice gravel on the upper sections of the course sneaks into shoes and is rough on the feet. Many runners modify their shoes for the descent by adding shoe glue to the soles for more abrasion resistance and taping the ankles to keep the gravel out of the shoe. Some runners wear worn out shoes for this event, assuming they will toss the shoes when it's over.

The trip up and down Mt. Fuji is a leave-nothing-left effort. Many runners make an exaggerated show of exhaustion after their stage to show their team and the other runners that they have given everything during their leg. Since the team relies on each runner to give it their all, there is some social pressure to go beyond one's comfort. Some are truly spent while others are making a show.

This is not a track relay with precise passes of a baton. About half of the sash hand-offs ended with a crumpled up runner in the gravel. By my observation the most common technique was for the descending runner to run full speed into the runner on-deck. Sometimes both runners ended up in the gravel before proceeding with the next stage.

Hand-off gone awry.