Japanese Ekiden runner shows incredible dedication

https://youtu.be/w3NZcIvWJX8

We’ve heard of team loyalty, but this is ridiculous. On Sunday, the Iwatani Sangyo team was in third place going into the second, 3.8K stage of the Princess Ekiden in Fukuoka Prefecture, the qualifier for November’s National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Championships. But Rei Iida, the team’s second runner, fell in the final kilometre of the stage, and crawled the remaining distance on her hands and knees, in tears, her shins bloody.

RELATED: What is an ekiden relay race?

Ekidens are a popular type of relay race. There is no specific ekiden distance or number of team members. One of the most renowned is the Chiba ekiden, an international event in which countries send co-ed teams of six to complete a marathon distance in relay style.

Japan Running News reported that Iwatani Sangyo’s next runner, Marie Imada, was herself in tears, watching her teammate suffer, but took the relay sash (called the tasuki) and ran with it once Iida arrived.

Unbelievably, so seriously is the national pastime taken that nobody suggested she stop, or offered medical attention. 

In fact, according to Japanese media reports, when the team manager was alerted that Iida had fallen and was crawling, he intended to pull her out of the race and disqualify the team. But by the time this decision reached the judge on the course, Iida had almost reached the exchange zone, so she was allowed to continue.

When her team manager visited Iida later in hospital, she apologized for her performance.

https://youtu.be/cx_HC9W8_Lk

That wasn’t the only drama in the race on Sunday. The runner who built a strong lead in the third, 10.7K stage, Harumi Okamoto of the Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo team, started to bonk about 8K into the stage, becoming disoriented, flailing her arms, and turning around to run in the wrong direction, a race official in pursuit. It was several minutes later before she finally collapsed beside the course and was given aid.

Half-marathon national record-holder Kayoko Fukushi, 36, anchored the Wacoal team to victory in the race, with a time of 2:19:16. Fukushi won the 2016 Osaka International Women’s Marathon, with a time of 2:22:17, and finished 14th in the marathon at the Rio Olympics.

Twenty-seven teams raced the full marathon distance in six stages for a chance to compete in the National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Championships next month.