Mizuno Ekiden Singapore Run - 16th July 2016

SG Unfit Runners are contemplating taking on a 21km run, after conquering the 10km barrier a couple of years ago.

No, we are not going to cripple ourselves by running 21km individually, but we are contemplating to run 21km in aggregation using the Ekiden method.

Before you go, "What is Ekiden?" which is my first reaction when I read about it, here is a brief explanation of the origins of the word.

The first ekiden race was held in 1917, in conjunction with celebrating the anniversary of the moving of the capital to Tokyo. The ekiden race was held over three days between the old Japanese capital of Kyoto and the modern capital of Tokyo with the total distance amounting to 508 km.

The original concept of the race stems from Japan’s communication and transportation system during the olden days, in which stations were posted at intervals along the road. The word Eki. “駅” means station and den “伝” represents transmit. 

So it practically works like a baton passing run, just that it is spread over 21km and 42km. However, one of the short-coming of an Ekiden is that the last runner will have to spend some time fiddling on their phone while waiting for their running partners to complete their respectively leg of the race.

On top of that, the race starts at 4pm and there is little doubt that some of the SG Unfit Runners will complain about the heat.

Let's hope they have tons of isotonic drinks and water along the way!

Fees are $45 for the 21km run per pax and $50 for the 42km run per pax.

For more information about Mizuno Ekiden Singapore Run, click here