With the help of Red Bull, young Japanese track stars prepare for the Hakone Ekiden in Austria
In Thalgau, a sleepy town near Salzburg, elite runners from Tokyo’s Aoyama Gakuin University are training at Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Center ahead of Japan’s biggest annual relay marathon.
On a lane in the town of Thalgau, a 25-minute drive from Salzburg, a group of runners whizzes by – then another and another. These elite athletes are students from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. Amid this backdrop of mountains, cow-dotted meadows and babbling brooks, they are a curious sight. On a nearby street is a community swap shop with a jumble of prams and children’s bicycles outside. Further down the road is an undertaker’s office; in the distance, a church spire.
But these trappings of a sleepy idyll belie the town’s growing reputation as a hub for high-performance training and sports. Behind the swap shop is the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, one of the two outposts of its kind operated by the Austrian energy-drinks giant. What was once Europe’s biggest zinc-oxide factory, supplying materials for kitchen fixtures and crockery, is now a facility that offers training, physical therapy and diagnostics for athletes from across the globe.
It also hosts training camps, one of which Monocle has been invited to try out. Earlier this year, Red Bull launched a partnership with Aoyama Gakuin University to bring a top Hakone Ekiden relay marathon team to Austria for the first time. Contested between universities, the race is one of Japan’s largest annual sporting events; its next edition, on 2 and 3 January, is expected to attract 50 million live viewers. Day one starts in central Tokyo and ends in resort town Hakone. On day two, runners complete the route in reverse. Teams comprise 10 runners; instead of a baton, the university’s tasuki (sash) is passed from athlete to athlete.
Today the team is completing 2km laps. Monocle is given a choice: join on foot or e-bike. Given that even the slowest team member can cover that distance in about five minutes, Monocle chooses the bicycle.
This is the first time that an Ekiden team has attended a training camp of this scale outside Japan. Such is its importance that a journalist from Nippon Television, the broadcaster that will provide the live coverage in January, follows the athletes everywhere they go. For many of the 26 students, who are between the ages of 18 and 22, this is their first time abroad.
During the bus ride to training, a sign along the village road advertising Japanese Wagyu burgers elicits a cheer. The soundtrack in the athletes’ earbuds is dominated by Japanese artists such as rock band Mrs Green Apple. “There isn’t much awareness about Austrian customs or culture in Japan,” says coach Yuta Shimoda, as team member Kenta Torii shows Monocle his playlists. “There has been a lot of learning.” One of the biggest differences has been the food. “They miss rice,” says the team’s liaison from Red Bull Japan, who is also acting as our translator. “It shows today. They are usually even faster.” A nutrition station by the finish line has both rice cakes and Austrian pretzels.
After training, the sweaty teammates gather in a circle and sing songs by Japanese pop-rock band Sakanaction, before a final wind-down jog along the shores of Lake Fuschl, near the Red Bull headquarters. The hope is that such camaraderie will help the team to secure another win in January.
hakone-ekiden.jp
