Gregory Goes There

In his home country of Japan, Gregory ambassador Hiroki Ishikawa recently organized a two-day trail running event, the second year he’s put together the Madarao Forest Trails 50km.

Part racing event and part volunteer work, participants not only race either 50 or 15k, depending on the category they enter, but they also plant trees in the Madarao Highlands as a way to give something back. The combination of that kind of action is still somewhat unusual and a new idea to the trail running community in Japan.

It’s a race, but it’s also a weekend of community bonding over common interests and a common cause. Pretty cool.

To give you a sense of the popularity, and the reputation Hiroki enjoys in his home country (for those of you not reading from Japan), the race was capped at 500 participants, and it filled up by mid-July, about a month after registration started. The race and other activities took place Oct. 3-5.

Hiroki designed the course, which he had run many times, to include three summits (1,382, 1,135 and 1,022 meters), four lakes and the long Japanese Beech Trail. He also set up five aid stations to offer water, energy food, bananas, and - of course - bamboo-leaf covered sushi en route.

The main event started early on Sunday, Oct. 5, Shuttle buses took the runners to the starting area for the breakfast at 5 a.m., followed by the opening ceremony at 6 a.m., and race starts of 6:30 for the 50k and 7 for the 15k. The final runner made it to the finish line of the 50k a little more than nine hours later.