EKIDEN

RACE

 

 

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2008年6月8日(日曜日)の第24回横田駅伝の申し込みは5月10日(土曜日)が締め切りです。

エントリー種目は、4人XKm駅伝、5Km、2Kmファンランです。駅伝種目は今年から区間記録を計測することになりました。 申し込みはランナーズの「大会ガイド・エントリー」からアクセスできます。

Registration at RUNNETS

 また、大会についてのご質問は以下のメールまたはファックスにて承ります。

必ずご連絡先を明記の上お送りください。

メールアドレス:pres@yokotastriders.com

ファクシミリ:0428-78-7735(ファックス専用回線)

 

 
Text Box: Come join us in June for the 24th Annual Ekiden 4 x 5K relay race and 5K road race! These races are scheduled for 8 June 2008. 
Too far? Then maybe the 2K Kids Fun Run is the race for you! Either way, be our guests for a good time and an action-packed day to remember.
"Super Awards or trophies - great kid’s prizes - very well organized..."
" ...smooth processing of visitors onto the base." 
Last year, over 4,500 Japanese runners came from all over the Kanto Plain to join the fun.
Registration is limited to 5,000 runners and the cut-off date is 10 May 2008 for SOFA card holders.
Note: Runners from off-base require photo ID for entry onto Yokota AB (passport, driver's license, official ID). 
An Ekiden history lesson... 
An Ekiden, sometimes called a marathon relay in English, is a long-distance relay, road race.
Ekiden originated in Japan, although the concept of a long distance relay race is probably not original or unique to any country. The first Ekiden race was sponsored by the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1917, and was run over three days between the old Japanese capital of Kyoto and the modern capital of Tokyo, a distance of 508km, to celebrate the anniversary of the moving of the capital to Tokyo. 
The popularity of Ekiden in Japan is unsurpassed in any other country, and its popularity has spread around the world with races run in New Zealand, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, China, Germany, France, the United States, Korea, and elsewhere.
"Ekiden" (駅伝) in Japanese combines the characters for "station" and "transmit". This name was coined by the poet Toki Zemmaro Toki Zemmaro (1885-1980), who was head of the Yomiuri Shimbun's Social Affairs Department at the time. The original concept of the race hearkens back to Japan's old Tokaido communication and transportation system in which stations were posted at intervals along the road. In the race, each runner on a team runs the distance from one "station" to the next, and then hands off a cloth sash, or tasuki, to the next runner.
The lengths of Ekiden can vary greatly, with some local, amateur races covering 20-30km with five or six runners on a team, and larger national and international races running a full marathon (42.195km) or longer, also usually with five or six runners per team. Some races can stretch hundreds of kilometers long.
One of the most popular modern Ekiden in Japan is the Hakone Ekiden, which features teams of students from various Japanese universities. This race from Tokyo to Hakone and back is held over two days at the New Year, and is a popular spectator sport that receives full network television coverage nationwide. Runners in the race compete to set individual records as well as to support their teams, and the race is considered to display many aspects of Japanese culture and spirit, including individual perseverance, identity within a group, and the importance within the Japanese hierarchy of allegiance to a major university

  
This is a private organization. It is not a part of the Department of Defense or any of its components and it has no governmental status.