With so many trail races to consider, it can be difficult to distinguish the good from the very best. Based on the races I’ve attended, since 2016, I’ve compiled a list of the most interesting and unique races on the trail running calendar.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of trail races in Japan, and this article shares the best races up to the magic distance of 42.2km – at which point trail running transitions into the weird and rather specialized world of ultra running.
In itself trail running can be a costly sport, especially when traveling to remote locations in the mountains. If you are aiming to keep racing cheap, try to only enter races which you can travel to and from on the day of the race itself.
My tip is to check the timing of any transport connections with applications such as Google Maps or local navigation websites, such as Hyperdia.