Feeling Like Olympic Athletes!? The Running Club Participated in “TOKYO Night Relay at the National Stadium”
Hello!
I’m Mian Fujimura, a first-year employee in the Sports Division, 3rd Bureau of the Public Relations Business Headquarters!
It’s mid-December and the year-end is approaching, but please let me share some memories from this fall!
When you think of fall,
the season for food…
the season for reading…
the season for sports!!!
I have 10 years of experience as a track and field athlete and graduated from the Department of Physical Education at a sports university.
When I think of fall, only sports come to mind.
As a related event to the “Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2022,” which was held for the first time this fall on Sunday, October 16, the “TOKYO Night Relay at the National Stadium” was held on Friday, October 14, two days prior.
This relay event involves teams of 2 to 10 people passing a baton and competing to see how many laps they can complete on the 1.1 km special circuit course inside the National Stadium within a 2-hour time limit.
The venue is the National Stadium, which is a 1-minute sprint from our office (note: based on the author’s standard), so there was no option for SUNNY SIDE UP members not to participate!
So here’s a report on how the Running Club and volunteer members participated in this event on Friday night after work!
16:00 Assembly
On this day, we finished work early, changed clothes, and gathered!
As soon as we left the office, we immediately started warming up exercises, full of enthusiasm!
We walked to the National Stadium.
16:30 Registration/Venue Entry
We completed registration and entered the venue!
The members were excited to receive participation prizes and athlete bibs.
We received event-original light-up rings!
They looked perfect for livening up the National Stadium at night!
There were also members taking Instagram-worthy photos together for social media sharing. (laughs)
17:00 Warm-up
…but first, commemorative photos!
There aren’t many opportunities to enter this stage where only top-class athletes, including Olympic athletes, can stand. We made sure to capture it perfectly in photos. (laughs)
While many SUNNY SIDE UP members were former athletes, our bodies are different from our active days. We warmed up thoroughly!
We jogged around the track, stretched while lying down, and made full use of the National Stadium to prepare for the race.
18:00 Race Start!
Once our bodies were warmed up, the race started!
We divided into two teams, each led by energetic senior members, and ran!
Now, which team will win…!?
Ready, set, go!
Everyone got unexpectedly excited about running at “the” National Stadium and sprinted faster than imagined. (laughs)
I began to worry whether we might have a series of injuries. (laughs)
A member (the author) showing the pride of a former track and field club member, and
a member showing composure with heart-shaped fan service.
It somehow brought back nostalgic memories of school sports festivals.
Regardless of age, all members enjoyed themselves innocently.
While having fun, everyone competed seriously!
We repeatedly overtook and were overtaken, creating a close race even within SUNNY SIDE UP!
The cheering became intense.
The final lap was run by two intern members who will join as new graduates in April next year!
The senior members formed an arcade and waited for the two to finish.
…………Finish!!!
Fortunately, everyone finished running safely and happily without any injuries!
Results
The results were… 22 laps and 21 laps respectively!
Overall rankings out of 318 teams were
92nd and 133rd!
Both teams completed the full 2 hours!
By the way, top-ranking teams (1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall) and milestone ranking teams (14th, 50th, 100th, 120th, and 200th overall) received meal vouchers usable at wonderful restaurants in the Sendagaya-Odori Shopping District, but unfortunately we didn’t get them this time…!
However! I should have mentioned this at the beginning, but our theme this time was “creating memories rather than records.”
So, we finished with a commemorative photo together!
Everyone had great smiles and good sweat!
Rather than running alone continuously, by connecting the baton with teammates, we deepened bonds among members across departmental boundaries!
It truly became an event that “created memories rather than records,” and we were completely satisfied!
Please consider participating next year as well!
