Trans Japan Alps Race (TJAR) is a 415 km

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

with a total elevation gain of approximately 27,000 mTrail Running magazine No.11 (トレイルランニングマガジン) (エイムック 2480), p7, 2012, that takes place on roughly half roads and half trails in the

Japanese Alps The is a series of mountain ranges in Japan which bisect the main island of Honshu. The peaks that tower over central Honshu have long been the object of veneration and pilgrimage. These mountains had long been exploited by local people for raw m ...

mountains. It has been held every other year since 2002 and is known as the most demanding race in Japan."Gekisou! Nihon Alps Daijuudan Micchaku Trans Japan Alps Race". By NHK Special Shuzaihan. Despite its immense difficulty, the winner receives no prize money or awards of any kind. Competitors must carry a long list of required gear and the race is run entirely self-supported, meaning that they are responsible for carrying and resupplying all of their own water and food, and must sleep in a

bivouac shelter A bivouac shelter is any of a variety of improvised camp site, or shelter that is usually of a temporary nature, used especially by soldiers, or people engaged in backpacking, bikepacking, scouting, or mountain climbing. It may often refer to s ...

which they carry. No pacers, crew or external support of any kind are allowed. Because of the demanding nature of the race and the small number (up to 30) of allowed competitors, the qualifying standards are higher than that of any other races held in Japan, and more stringent than most around the world. The major reason for dropping out the race is hypothermia due to severe wind and rain in the high altitude mountain regions. As participants are required to in speaking and/or reading and writing Japanese, no international competitor has run the race as of 2018.

Race

Course

The race starts at

Toyama Bay is a bay located on the northern shores of the Hokuriku region of Honshu, Japan on the Sea of Japan. The bay borders Toyama and Ishikawa prefectures. The bay is known for the mirages on the horizon during the winter months and for being a spaw ...

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

at midnight and ends at

Suruga Bay Suruga Bay (駿河湾, ''Suruga-wan'') is a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honshū ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Runners must cross traverse the Japanese Alps,

Hida Mountains The , or , is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, ...

, the

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese Al ...

and the

Akaishi Mountains The are a mountain range in central Honshū, Japan, bordering Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. It is also called the , as it joins with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Kiso Mountains ("Central Alps") to form the Japa ...

. It is regarded as the most demanding trail race in Japan. The majority of competitors suffer hallucination due to stress and lack of sleep. Participants who cannot finish the race within 8 days are disqualified.

Rules

(Excerpt) Participants are required to go through 3 check points and finish within 8 days without using any transportation/devices other than their own feet. During the race, use of mountain huts for lodging is prohibited and competitors use their own bivouac shelters to sleep. Furthermore, as of the 2021 race, it will be impermissible for athletes to replenish with food or drinks other than water at huts in the mountain sections of the course. Aid from friends/family/team is strictly prohibited along the entire route. Participants are allowed, however, to mail a self-addressed resupply package to one designated location just beyond the halfway point in Ichinose. There in Ichinose they may resupply and/or swap out items, and mail any items back to themselves that they will not use for the remainder of the race. Hiking manners and respect for nature and others comes first. Throwing materials in the race is prohibited. Violation of any rules will result in disqualification.

Participation

A maximum of 30 participants who have passed the qualifying standards set by the TJAR committee are allowed to run the race. The requirements include an experience of camping more than 10 days at altitudes over , experience of bivouacking more than 4 times at altitudes over 2000 m after hiking more than 20 hours of map time, experience of finishing a trail race over 70 km, achievement of a full marathon time of 3:20 or less or 100 km time of 10:30 or less, ability of risk management and emergency measures in mountains, Japanese language ability sufficient to communicate, a medical certificate, and a mountaineering insurance that preferably includes death benefit. If the number of applications which satisfy all the requirements exceeds the limit, the committee selects more experienced applicants with more serious training.

GPS

The location of each competitor is tracked by the GPS device and is shown online during the race.

Prize

The race does not offer any prize money for winners.

Results

*2002: 1 finished out of 4 participants. Winner: Mikio Iwase (7 days 5 hours 7 min). *2004: 6 finished out of 9 participants. Winner: Masato Tanaka (6 days 2 hours 0 min). *2006: 2 finished out of 6 participants. Winner: Chigaya Mase (7 days 10 hours 48 min). *2008: 15 finished out of 20 participants. Winner: Masato Tanaka (5 days 10 hours 32 min). *2010: 15 finished out of 23 participants. Winner: Mochizuki Shougo (5 days 5 hours 22 minutes) *2012: 18 finished out of 28 participants. Winner: Mochizuki Shougo. (5 days 6 hours 24 min). With the exception of the 2014 race, documentaries have been broadcast on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

since the 2012 race. *2014: 15 finished out of 30 participants. Winner: Mochizuki Shougo (5 days 12 hours 57 min). Time limit was extended by 3 hours due to Typhoon. *2016: 25 finished out of 29 participants. Winner: Mochizuki Shougo (4 days 23 hours 52 min) *2018: 27 finished out of 30 participants. Winner: Kousuke kaitou (6 days 1 hours 22 min) *2020 (2021): Canceled in the middle of the second day due to inclement weather.2021/08/13 TJAR2020 中止に至った経緯と今後について
/ref> *2022: 20 finished out of 30 participants. Winner: Takashi Doi (4 days 17 hours 33 min)

References

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External links

Official site of the TJAR
Ultramarathons