A Late Summer Ultra Marathon In Kyoto : Tango Ultra Marathon

Truthfully, ever since my completion of Fujisan Marathon in 2014, I’ve set my mind to do the race again in 2015. But for past few months, there is this one race that caught my eyes; for the race itself, for the scenery along the race route and for the fact that it falls a day before my 40th birthday!

I figured, what a great way to celebrate my 40th birthday than to finish an ultra marathon in such a scenic route!

The International Friendship Tango 100KM Ultra Marathon, an ultra-marathon in the northern part of Kyoto and will be held on Sep 20th, 2015 this year for the 15th time. (Click here for the Japanese link)

It has two categories.

100KM with a 14-hours cut-off and littered with killer inclines. The clincher is the hill section towards the final section of the course. 18,000yen registration fee.

60KM with a 9-hours and 30 minutes cut-off and much kinder (i.e. flatter route) compared to the 10OK category and with 13,000yen registration fee.

Photo credit : Tango Ultra Marathon 2014 website.

The International Friendship Tango 100km Ultra earned the silver label recognition from the International Association of Ultra Runners (IAU) in 2014 and aims to invite runners from overseas, as there are no borders in running.

Registration for the ultra marathon has already been open since Mar 20th to Jul 24th and will close when the capacity is full. The number of participants are capped at 4,000 runners; with 2,600 runners for 100km category and 1,400 runners for 60km category.

Information on registration can be found at their English page. Click here.

 Course and elevation map.

 Cut off time and CPs

Area map

Access Information. Click for bigger image.

 

For anyone interested in joining, do get your accommodation sorted early because I find plenty of hotels around the area have been fully booked. 

 

I do hope I can join this. We'll see. ^^