Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Anna Dingley and Matt Seddon
0 Plays2 seconds ago
UK Eiden, Inspired by Japan’s world-famous Hakone Ekiden, brings long-distance team relay racing to UK roads, blending university athletics, corporate participation, and cultural exchange.
In this episode, host Michelle catches up with Anna Dingley (UK Ekiden founder) and Matt Seddon (Athletics Director & Oxford University Cross Country Head Coach) after this year’s event, which saw university and corporate teams racing along the Thames — with plenty of action, community spirit, and lessons learned!
You’ll hear about:
- The roots of Ekiden and why it’s so popular in Japan 🇯🇵
- How UK Ekiden is inspiring UK university and club runners
- Standout moments (and challenges) from this year’s race
- The importance of team spirit in endurance running
- Why Oxford got disqualified this year!
- Growing UK–Japan cultural links through running
- The vision for making UK Ekiden a fixture in the UK calendar
Instagram: @ukekiden
Website: ukekiden.com
Photo Credit: Phil Hill
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
UKRunChat
Welcome to this episode of the UK Run Chat podcast.
Introduction to UK Ekiden and Guests
00:00:04
UKRunChat
I'm Michelle and today I'm catching up with Anna Dingley, founder of the yeah UK Ekaden and Matt Seddon, athletics director for yeah UK Ekaden and head coach for Oxford University Cross Country Club.
Origin and Concept of Ekiden Races
00:00:15
UKRunChat
Now UK Ekaden is a long distance team relay inspired by Japan's iconic Ekaden races. We spoke to Anna last year on the podcast just before the first ever UK event.
00:00:27
UKRunChat
So we'll be hearing a little bit about how that went and how this year's event has just unfolded, which has happened just this weekend. um Anna and Matt, welcome to the podcast. Welcome, Bo.
00:00:38
Anna Dingley
Thanks very much.
00:00:38
UKRunChat
and Anna, could and would would you mind just giving us a brief introduction to Ekadim for those listeners who haven't listened to the podcast? But they can, of course, go back and and have a longer listen to that if they want to.
00:00:50
Anna Dingley
Sure. Yeah. I mean, there's a couple of key points, really. I mean, Eki Den, initially the background means um Eki means station and den means message. and And initially this was these were Japanese um so history. They had runners who delivered messages along all the way along the length of the country um before there were trains, before there were cars. And it was relying on the fastest ever runners to deliver a message.
00:01:14
Anna Dingley
And ah that developed um about a hundred years ago into a racing format. So people aren't carrying messages anymore, but they're carrying, um they have a sash called a tasuki and it's ah it's very important. It's like the important message that people are carrying.
00:01:29
Anna Dingley
And so, and you rely on your teammates to to get this tasuki along. And so the racing format developed about a hundred years ago. And ever since then, it's really become an important part of the hearts and minds of Japanese culture.
00:01:43
Anna Dingley
Like in primary schools, people do ekiden. From secondary schools, there's a big corporate ekiden. And then the most famous one, which is really what was the catalyst for us setting ours up, was one called the Hakone Ekiden, which is a new year. It's on the day after New Year's Day. It's really like the equivalent of, say, Boxing Day in the
Role of University Students and Team Dynamics
00:02:00
Anna Dingley
UK. So you're with your family, you're with your friends, you've got the telly on, you're eating lots of food.
00:02:04
Anna Dingley
And it's the most watched TV program in Japan because everyone's out there watching university runners and do this incredible race. they They go out from Tokyo to Mount Fuji and back.
00:02:15
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:02:17
Anna Dingley
And so we when we launched our Eki Den, we were like, we need to have an iconic route. It needs to be meaningful. and And the focus has to be university students because, you know, I guess, sorry, there's a third reason is we want to shine a light on these incredible athletes we've got in our country. And, you know, as we all remember, when you're coming out of university, it's a little bit of a daunting time. And and it's great to have this sort of inspirational moment for them all to say, you know, and and potentially they can make lots of contacts as well with the corporates.
00:02:46
Anna Dingley
But it's just this it's um it's sort of giving them something positive to focus on as a team.
00:02:52
UKRunChat
Yeah, fantastic. what Would you like to add anything to that, Matt, from your perspective as kind of the Oxford University coach? What's the appeal to the university runners of Econome, would you say?
00:03:02
Matt
Well, I think university is a special time to to be an athlete full stop. You look at a lot of sports all over the world. University sports are the pinnacle for 99% of student athletes.
00:03:14
Matt
Very few actually are able to progress and turn professional and even less so probably in the in the sport of distance running. So to have something like an Ekeden that they can look forward to, that can be a part of their university career, you know, they might be university three, four years. They might only make one Ekeden team. um But the memories that creates and it's really, for me, it's about, you know, having these events which showcase the pinnacle of our sport and who really is the best endurance squad team university in the whole country as well. Because I think our Ekeden is unique, unlike in Japan, the fact that men and women compete on the same team as well.
00:03:51
Matt
working towards that shared goal. um Five men and five women. And I think that's something which is just going to grow the sport and and grow Ikeden's full stop as well. And think universities can get really excited for that.
00:04:03
UKRunChat
Yeah, but's that's great to hear about the equality there. That's fantastic. um
00:04:08
Anna Dingley
Yeah, I remember when people were saying to me, like, sorry, go for it, Matt.
00:04:08
UKRunChat
Anna, you were about...
00:04:09
Matt
It brings the club together.
00:04:10
UKRunChat
Yeah, yeah, it really does, doesn't
00:04:12
Matt
It does because...
00:04:15
Matt
I was just going to say, like as as a club and as a coach, you know so often in an athlete's career, guys will train with guys, girls will train with girls. um And you know there might even be warm-ups separately, there might be even a bit of disconnected training as well.
00:04:23
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:27
Matt
So to actually come together on race day and work together towards a goal like winning in Ikeden or meddling it in Ikeden is unique and long may that continue.
00:04:38
Anna Dingley
It's so amazing. I remember when we were starting it and obviously I'm a girl, I've done all these different types of sporting events in the, in the, you know, in the, in the, well, relatively recent past, but I was done various different challenges.
Notable Moments and Challenges in UK Ekiden
00:04:50
Anna Dingley
It's so inspiring. You know, you feel great when you do them.
00:04:52
Anna Dingley
And I remember thinking, well, there's absolutely no way we weren't going to let the women take the girls take part.
00:04:57
Matt
Mm-hmm.
00:04:58
Anna Dingley
It was just sort of trying to work out how we could, how we could make it work that way. And, uh, Yeah, five men, five women is great. yeah We try and include encourage that in the unit in the corporate. we've We've got a ah division we call the racers, which is universities, and then runners, which is the corporate and the community teams, um which is also pretty competitive or very competitive. And we we expect that to build that way.
00:05:20
Anna Dingley
But, ah you know, that for them, we have to be a little bit more flexible on the rules. But there's certainly some really strong women running incredibly fast in that division as well. And people, hopefully, hopefully that will continue as well.
00:05:32
UKRunChat
Yeah, oh fantastic. and So, Anna, you were about to s stage the very first UK Academy when we last spoke.
00:05:38
UKRunChat
um how How did that one go before we get on to this year's? How how was it?
00:05:38
Anna Dingley
a
00:05:44
Anna Dingley
God, I mean, I can't believe what's happened in the last year. Can you imagine? I mean, it's gone from, ah yeah, it's gone from this idea to you know, delivery in, ah yeah, and as you say, the whole thing has gone very, very quickly.
00:05:49
Matt
It's been crazy.
00:06:02
Anna Dingley
um Last year, it was magical as well. I mean, both races have been incredibly hot and there's a lot of There was quite a sort of similar feel in both of them in in some ways.
00:06:13
Anna Dingley
um But yeah, last year's went very, very well. it was it was it was We started in Oxford and finished in Windsor last year to ah link together. there's There's a lot of meaning behind actually most of the things we're doing in the Ekaden, but it just takes a long time to explain it. And maybe some people pick on some aspects, some people get the others. But the the Japanese emperor studied at um Oxford and he wrote a book called The Tens and I. And so it was it was quite nice link to have The Oxford for the Japanese emperor and and Windsor as our royal family link. And obviously the Thames, he wrote the book. And, you we want people to see the beautiful scenery along the Thames. We want it to be broadcast to the world.
00:06:51
Anna Dingley
think but a lot of people do know it already, but many people don't actually get to run the route. um And so, yeah, we achieved what we wanted to do. Last year we had 18 teams. Oxford came across the line in a jubilant way. It was amazing. And ah all the corporates loved it. I think people last year really felt like they'd been in this big sort of adventure because the beginning of the race, you know, it was it was breaking new ground. Like people didn't really know what to expect.
00:07:17
Anna Dingley
The the um Oxford to Reading section of the route was quite, it it did feel a bit sort of like they were explorers. They had some fields to get through and it was quite a challenge. But then when everybody got to the end safely, and and you know, like you hear a lot, you know obviously for us is the as the founders and the organizers, we the priority is that everybody's safe. You know, that's what you worry about. You want it to be exciting, you want it to be amazing. But then when it comes to it like, oh my God, I hope everyone's going to be okay.
00:07:45
Anna Dingley
So you put as much prep in for that as you can. and um And so they did. And and it was it was a happy, exciting exciting event. Yeah, last year it was great. so
00:07:54
UKRunChat
Oh, fantastic. how How was it from your perspective, Matt? how How did your university get on?
00:08:00
Matt
Well, Oxford won last year and this year there was some high drama. I mean, as Anna as anna mentioned, you know, would it wouldn't be in Ikeden without the drama. um One of the big things in Ikeden, you have to exchange that tasaki within the handover stations.
00:08:13
Matt
um And unfortunately, Oxford weren't able to do that this year. One of our runners, Chad Ward, was just a little delayed getting to his handover station. um He was helping out a poor lady who fell off her bike. So He was doing good um in the world, but unfortunately missed Rebecca, who is the incoming runner.
00:08:30
Matt
She then obviously carried on on the route, being involved in a tough battle with Ritsumeik and Japanese uni coming over. um Jared Ward ended up catching up with her, grabbing grabbing the tasky off her and finishing his leg.
00:08:41
Matt
um But one of the kind of black and white rules is that that handover needs to take place in the ah in the handover station, in the handover box. So um yeah, unfortunately, Oxford got DQ'd.
00:08:52
Matt
We did end up catching up back up to Ritzy Macon and still going on to, I guess, cross the tape and run the fastest time um along the Thames over the 114-kilometer route, which is, yeah, super impressive. um And as a coach, you know, I was happy with that. I think it's gutting sometimes when uh the athletes don't get don't get the reward at the end um but you know i think it just takes a few days maybe a week for them to come around and you know athletes don't run it's not sport you run for the rewards um for the money or anything like that you run it because the power it brings as a team and just the pure love of just distance running really so um
00:09:27
Matt
But that was a kind of, it was a story. And, um you know, it's, if anything, it's made more people talk about the Ickadon. What's this event? What's this event? So, um you know, for us, I guess the exposure is is all good.
00:09:40
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's that's great. And you've got to take, like you say, you've got to take those disappointments as well with the highs of sport, haven't you? You know, it's all it's all part of sport.
00:09:49
UKRunChat
and what What kind of feedback did you get from from your runners?
00:09:49
Matt
I think that's it.
00:09:50
Anna Dingley
I think
00:09:54
Matt
ah loved it. And, you know, not obviously I have close affiliation with Oxford ah being their coach, but a lot of the university students, I mean, I even gave a lift to a, to a few extra students on the way to their leg the morning of the race and, you know, got talking with them and there were just so many ah incredible stories. You know, one of the athletes from Exeter, Mark Ruby, he's doing a ah degree alongside working for JP Morgan.
00:10:19
Matt
um They're paying for his degree. He's based down in, in Bournemouth way down in Exeter and, somewhere down there and you know he's just working so hard I'm like goodness me how are you fitting it all in um and you know he's a high class athlete an athlete who's going to be pushing for GB teams in the future and I think you know this was a unique event but he absolutely loved it um and there were so many teams who who walked away from it and just thought you know what that was a cracking weekend. And I think that's that's what sports should be about at university, full stop, is is making those memories um and being a part of ah a much bigger team.
00:10:52
Matt
I think there's a lot of races in the UK, for example, British Milers Club, you know you'll be familiar with, and which are amazing meetings, um but there you do them for yourself. um And it's it's a shame because in this sport, you you can go your whole 10, 15, 20-year career just doing these races, which only concern you. um And after a while,
00:11:12
Matt
they can take a bit of a toll, you know, mentally, physically, you can feel drained. You're always shooting for a lifetime best, the PB. And sometimes you need something bigger to run for, something bigger to really get you fired up and motivated. And and that's what the Ickoden does. And that was the feedback we got from a lot of the athletes and a lot of the universities have already been like, can we come back next year?
00:11:31
Matt
I think we're going to have a ah big a big inbox. We might need to set, so well, we will be setting some qualification next year for a few teams.
00:11:35
Anna Dingley
sweet
00:11:38
Matt
And and and the top eight teams will will be back next year for sure.
00:11:43
UKRunChat
Yeah, wow. and Anything you'd like to add to that, Anna, kind of around the the team the team ethos and the team responsibility?
00:11:50
Anna Dingley
oh just so much i mean it you know like this is very fresh it was just a couple of days ago and there was such a big huge build-up to it we're all sort of letting things settle but
00:11:56
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:12:00
Anna Dingley
But one of the things that we you we that was always important to Matt and i was was inviting the university students and getting them together. Like we wanted to get everybody together the night before the race so that they could see each other. Like obviously they know each other from other meets a bit, but we wanted to treat treat them a bit like stars, you know, get them up on the stage, get their photos taken. And we laid on a dinner. We were out. it was ah It was, as you remember, it was boiling hot.
00:12:25
Anna Dingley
which we was weren't quite expecting, but laid on a dinner. We had some speeches from the head of, from a senior managing director from the Nikkei, one of our main sponsors and the CEO of ASICS, which is ah another big sponsor, which was amazing. And they all, they were both actually running in it as well.
00:12:40
Anna Dingley
So, and we had Ailish McCulgan and Beth Potter come, Matt interviewed them on stage. You know, we really wanted to get these students together and and feel that they were part of something special. And I think, I think we did manage to do that. And one of the things that,
00:12:54
Anna Dingley
i I often refer to, and it might be sort of slightly ah the wrong comparison, but that feeling was a bit, it's a bit like the Tour de France. You know, they're in a team. You get them the night before they're having their photo taken.
00:13:03
Matt
Yep.
00:13:05
Anna Dingley
and You know, when when we grow and and we're not necessarily looking to grow by much bigger numbers, but in terms of sort of people's interest, we want the alumni to be focused. We want people to be coming and cheering on their old universities.
00:13:18
Anna Dingley
But, you know, it it will be the equivalent of, you know, there'll be awards at the end of the day of he won the first leg. He was the fastest, you know, you know, the different teams and stuff that we can do. So there's a lot of comparisons with that Tour de France type
Race Day Dynamics and Strategic Planning
00:13:31
Anna Dingley
of idea of celebrating, getting everybody on the stage the night before.
00:13:35
Anna Dingley
You know, people have trained for years for this to get into the race. In Japan, people... apply to the universities that can take part in the Hakone Ekeden purely because of the running that they can do rather than because of what they're going to study there.
00:13:50
Anna Dingley
So we want the universities to start taking a note as well.
00:13:50
Matt
I almost, I second that, Anna. You know, I think in years to come, your university ranking will be based on your record and position. We're talking about athletically here.
00:13:59
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:14:01
Matt
um And so I think it will have a sway, you know, because at the moment you've got, you've got bucks and the the outdoor bucks as well, track and field to go off. um And the same, the same teams, for example, track and field is just such a big sport. You need so many specialist coaches, so many specialist athletes to finish high up at the track and field champs.
00:14:19
Matt
But if you're into distance running, where can you get the measure on on how your how your university fares? And Iakaden will do that. But yeah, to touch on Anna's point about the Tour de France, it we did look at that Tour de France model and be like that.
00:14:32
Matt
it's so successful you know that is the b blueprint for endurance sports and I think this is why we wanted to get those teams up yeah on stage the night before we wanted to introduce them all to each other we wanted to create this subtle rivalries um and I think even at the handover points universities are there and it was quite interesting I was at Reading the halfway point and you know all
00:14:36
Anna Dingley
Thank
00:14:56
Matt
15, 16 runners for those universities get on the same bus and it's just them on that bus. They get dropped off at that handover point. They are, you know, they're all just, you know, sitting there, you know, going off to warm up and and it's it's just them. um And I thought, you know, what a unique experience. You know, it's definitely a little like a cool room.
00:15:15
Matt
ah vibe that you get in track and field. But the only difference is you're actually with that runner for probably the two hours prior to your leg. You're on the bus with them and everything like that. So some awkward conversations and were had and and obviously so some rivalries were made.
00:15:29
Matt
But yeah, that was a unique thing that I hadn't seen in our sport yet, which I thought was very cool.
00:15:34
UKRunChat
Yeah, that sounds fun. So you can kind of suss out your competition for a while beforehand.
00:15:39
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:15:39
Matt
Yeah, and they're all they're all following the race you know on their phones and they're seeing how their team is doing, how their team is progressing um because obviously they're waiting for their their incoming runner. And yeah, I thought it that is very unique to the Ickerdin and it gives ah it gave a really, really good atmosphere at that halfway point.
00:15:56
Anna Dingley
Yeah, that was a big new thing we did this year, actually. We managed to get trackers on all of the Tasaki and it was amazing. I mean, God, the day goes so fast, I barely had a chance to look at it. I wanted to see if we can look back and I just want to watch it in slow motion again and see, because you could see these trackers going forward and back and like, oh, who's in the lead?
00:16:09
Matt
Hmm.
00:16:14
Anna Dingley
Who's in the lead? So, of course, as Matt was saying, these these students, they don't get to get to Reading, but they set off at different times. And so... they then don't know who's going to be right, how close the person is behind them.
00:16:25
Anna Dingley
And if they, you know, they have, they explain the Ekaden as sort of being like you hunted down or it's this chase because you don't know where the people are. You don't know if you're going to be able to get the person in front of you or you'll you'll have known just when they set off maybe.
00:16:32
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:16:37
Anna Dingley
But the ones behind you, it's an exciting time. But but having these tracks in business, isn't it?
00:16:42
Matt
I think what's, yeah. Yeah. And, and just to add to that, you know, what's know again, unique about the Ikeden is one, the legs are different. So the speeds people are running are a lot different because of the men and women factor as well.
00:16:55
Matt
You could have a woman on one leg and a man on the other. So you will see a lot more change throughout the race. Whereas, you know, if you're watching the live tracker from a marathon feed, everyone's running their set pace and there's very little change, you know, okay.
00:17:02
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:17:08
Matt
Once they pass 30 K, you can start to see a few people blow up and a few people work through. um But it's it's not as interactive. It doesn't tell the story as much as what the what the or this tracker was doing on the weekend. There was so much change.
00:17:21
Matt
um And people would put their strongest runner at the halfway point or late on in the race, you know, leg 10, leg one.
00:17:22
Anna Dingley
yeah
00:17:27
Matt
um So there was always some some back and forth in in a lot of ways. so
00:17:31
Anna Dingley
Yeah, yeahs it was exciting. yeah The big strategic part part to it. and And at the end, at Reading, we have a cutoff. So that's why as well, people have to decide if they want to put their fastest runners in the first half of their team to make sure they don't get cut off.
00:17:45
Anna Dingley
It's a very key part of Ekuden planning as well.
00:17:46
UKRunChat
yeah
00:17:48
Anna Dingley
um and then ah But other people wanting to put their runners on the end to you know really bring it through bring it home and know what they've got to run for. So it's exciting.
00:17:57
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's it's surprising how exciting watching a dot on a screen can be, isn't it? when when you i not Yeah, that's brilliant.
00:18:00
Matt
Really, yeah.
00:18:06
UKRunChat
ah So what were there any kind of surprises or other challenges this year, like from an organizer's point of view? Or has it all gone smoothly?
00:18:14
Anna Dingley
I mean, you know, on a small scale, we hadn't realised that it was clashing with the Henley w Women's Regatta. wouldn't say it was a surprise, but it was certainly a challenge. We are going to definitely try and avoid that this year.
00:18:23
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:18:27
Anna Dingley
And also it was Royal Ascot. So the the traffic around, you know, quite a big part is making sure we get our runners to the place in time. and ah And so that was a big challenge. But no, the big standout.
00:18:40
Anna Dingley
really challenging situation was the Oxford handover that didn't take place. And it was it was heartbreaking. It was just really difficult. Because on the one hand, it was black and white, the rules. We had to follow them. And we had serious people from Japan who just you you know lived and breathed Ekiden,
00:18:57
Anna Dingley
um all their lives and just knew, well you know, it was obvious. It wasn't in the handover. But obviously from us, we just, it was just awful because we'd saw how amazing Oxford did and actually it hadn't put them at advantage.
00:19:11
Anna Dingley
It had put them at a disadvantage because the girl Rebecca had had to run even further.
00:19:13
Matt
Mm-hmm.
00:19:16
Anna Dingley
But um we sort of, we just had no choice because um because that's the Ekiden rules. and And if we wanted to be taken seriously, from all the teams in Japan and in the and in the future when we're talking to sponsors and stuff, it has to be seen as and as ah as a bona fide Ekiden and that's just a key rule. So we in ah in the other way, we had absolutely no choice, but um yeah, considering all of considering just the support, how incredibly well they did and they were four minutes ahead, weren't they? I think it was four minutes, four and a bit minutes.
00:19:48
Anna Dingley
it was ah it was it was It was really difficult to be able to make have to make that decision.
00:19:48
Matt
Yeah, come the end.
00:19:54
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, it's it's so important, as you say, though, to be fair to everybody, isn't it?
00:19:59
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:19:59
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:19:59
Anna Dingley
And I think, you know, hopefully they'll they'll get over the hurt and they'll understand. And, you know, they've learned the lesson in the hardest way, but everybody will learn from this.
00:20:10
Anna Dingley
You know, we we know that next year we've got to give a really clear briefing of that.
00:20:10
UKRunChat
yeah
00:20:14
Anna Dingley
Somebody for said whatever reason isn't there. We got 309 people to the right places at the right time, but the key one didn't get there, which was tragic. But we've just got to make sure that we explain things more next year and say, look,
00:20:27
Anna Dingley
If somebody isn't there for whatever reason, you just gotta wait. And yeah, we've all learned a lot, I
00:20:30
UKRunChat
Yeah.
Logistics and Community Involvement
00:20:33
Anna Dingley
think.
00:20:33
Anna Dingley
It's just Oxford learned in the hardest possible way.
00:20:35
UKRunChat
no
00:20:35
Anna Dingley
It was really hard.
00:20:38
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's that's really tough.
00:20:39
Matt
Thank you.
00:20:40
UKRunChat
Talk to us a little bit, Matt, about how you select and your team, for example. how did Do you invite runners to apply or do you kind of cherry pick them?
00:20:50
Matt
Well, the Ickden overall, I guess being an athletics director, my one of my biggest roles was getting the teams all on board the universities to commit. um And that that obviously we had Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham compete last year. So all of those three returned, which was great.
00:21:06
Matt
um And then it was basically who who are the next best teams in the country and and reaching out to them. um and and then And then we obviously had Reading compete. They were the hometown team. So it was great to see great to see them feature.
00:21:20
Matt
and And we did that. we We had all the best teams you know in the country. And I think we got a lot on the side who think, do you know what? We deserve a shot next year. We can compete. um So you know there will be a chance for them to prove themselves and discussions to be had over the next 12 months. um So the Yikoden will look very similar next year. But I think, yes, sort of a few of the teams may change.
00:21:41
Matt
um But then me as a coach, how do we pick? Well, a lot of it, you know you can't we had a long list about three months out, I would probably say, of of who we were going to be on that team. And there were actually a lot of changes um right up until race day. And I think a lot of the teams can relate to that.
00:21:57
Matt
Whether it be, it was also the final week. What was really cool about it was it was the final week for most students um at the university, you know, either. And a lot of them were were actually graduating as well. So it was one big kind of send off for them. I think they really enjoyed their day celebrating at Windsor.
00:22:13
Matt
as well, um, after the race. So yeah, we had that long list and then it was kind of who was shaping up the best and and who managed to stay healthy. Obviously injuries are a part of the game in our sport. Um, so we had a few injuries from an Oxford standpoint, but, uh, yeah, they were replaced just because actually we had, we could have picked 30 or 40 runners to do this. decade And yeah I think we were in a, we're in a fortunate position as a club. We have great numbers and, um, it's a really tight knit club.
00:22:41
Matt
Um, So, you know, if we did have an injury, it was an easy replace for us, to be honest. But yeah, I think a lot of people even in the club would have would have liked to see, you know, B teams because, you know, they wanted to take part that much.
00:22:54
Matt
um And then, you know, someone like Tamsin, who is ah the Oxford captain alongside Benji. She actually came to the event and and she marshaled because obviously being a captain, she wanted to be there. She wanted to be a part of it as well.
00:23:06
Anna Dingley
Yeah, there but that was great. In fact, there's a couple of things. Next year, we want to get... One of our big challenges is getting the marshals, getting volunteers, especially on a hot day as well. A lot of amazing people in the commute local community did volunteer and and and came along to sort of be a part of it. But we definitely want to try and include the university because we do give the places and everything to the universities for free. Damsin was amazing. And there's so lots of parents and stuff decided to come and take part. But I think we're going to have to ask the universities to...
00:23:35
Anna Dingley
commit to finding let's say five to ten volunteers as well for their teams it would make a huge difference and hopefully help bring bring some more of that support chip cheering on for them as well in japan they all bring out huge banners and their university flags i mean i'm looking at ah matt's t-shirt you know the texas one when i used to work in austin and everybody came out in that everyone the whole of the austin came out to support their um american football teams in in that and you you know in in the future, we think the Ekiden should be the same. you if People come out in their t-shirts, they're cheering everybody on and ah and want to be a part of it, even if they're not running.
00:24:11
Anna Dingley
um So that's one aspect. But the other thing on on terms in terms of sort of selecting universities, Big shout out to Lincoln University. They had the Ekiden spirit in bucket loads.
00:24:22
Anna Dingley
They really, really helped in terms of yeah this early stage when you're launching an event. We need people to be explaining what it is. And we actually launched, we asked, we were asking lots of people to, uh,
00:24:33
Anna Dingley
to do a Tasiki passing video around where they lived. And we had some really fun ones of those. And lots of the the supporters did it. Lots of the companies did it. And the universities did it. But you know getting people to talk about it so they explain it to their community and their followers really helped.
Future Growth and Cultural Exchange
00:24:48
Anna Dingley
And that's an important part for us when it comes down to choosing universities. is but it It will be, I think, isn't it, Matt, sort of making sure that they they ah support they'll they'll get some bonus points for for e for collaborating in that way.
00:25:02
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's fantastic.
00:25:02
Matt
yeah
00:25:03
UKRunChat
as is it It's important to to get volunteers as well, isn't it? You know, volunteers are a huge part of sport as well and putting sport on safely.
00:25:09
Anna Dingley
Yeah. Yeah, they're amazing.
00:25:11
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:13
Matt
I think a lot of
00:25:13
UKRunChat
So are you hoping to kind of ultimately grow the university participation in the future then? Is that going to continue growing?
00:25:23
Matt
Well, I think in in what it means to run in and compete in Inikiden here in the UK, I think yes. But actual numbers of athletes and teams, we probably will limit. We may get up to 20, Anna, um at some point, but we we do want to keep it exclusive. We want to keep it the best of the best, that high performance element.
00:25:44
Matt
We want teams ah to be training all year just to kind of qualify themselves. for the Ikeden and we want athletes to be very, very proud to represent the uni and compete. And we, we started to see ah that on the weekend, um, on Friday, sorry.
00:25:59
Matt
I think that was what was, was really exciting for me.
00:26:01
Anna Dingley
Thank you.
00:26:02
Matt
There was some high profile athletes who who came to watch. I had a few conversations with them and, uh, they regretted not committing to the Ikeden for their university. Once they got there and they saw it play out, they were like, damn, i wish I wish I went with it.
00:26:15
UKRunChat
Please.
00:26:15
Matt
But, you you know, they have a very busy race schedule and they have lofty goals to try and qualify and represent GB in the summer, in the track season. And so you you can understand it. There were some raced on Wednesday night, were a little tired.
00:26:27
Matt
coming into the Ickadin on Friday. But yeah, in future, we want athletes and universities to be putting the Ickadin in their diary straight away and going, right, how can we get our best five men and women on the start line come whatever date in June, July, May, whenever.
00:26:42
Anna Dingley
yeah Yeah, exactly that. We can't have it that much bigger. it has It's not a mass participation event. They are amazing in their feet in their own right, mass participation event, but that's just not what we are. We can't be bigger than that.
00:26:54
Anna Dingley
and ah And just literally in terms of the capacity, getting getting people together on that Thursday night, getting people together Friday, numbers are already pretty high. It's hard to find venues and moving people around up and down the um and the on the shuttle buses up and down the route is is challenging with the numbers as they are.
00:27:12
Matt
said We want to keep it as
00:27:12
Anna Dingley
So, you know, we'll we'll explore a few ideas, but but yeah, as Matt said, 15, it felt quite good this year, 16, maybe up to 20, but...
00:27:21
Matt
because we want to keep it as a premium product.
00:27:21
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:27:23
Matt
you know we want And that's the big thing.
00:27:23
UKRunChat
Yeah. know
00:27:25
Matt
ah you know We want to be able to look after those athletes and transport them to their to their legs and stuff. The minute you go mass participation, well, it turns into every other race that we see um in in the UK right now.
00:27:37
UKRunChat
Yeah. And I think that's good, you know, keeping it exclusive and the best of the best and we'll be hopefully looking to Ekaden for which athletes to watch, won't
00:27:47
Anna Dingley
Yeah, that's what we think. Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:48
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:27:49
Anna Dingley
Absolutely.
00:27:50
Matt
we we
00:27:50
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:27:51
Matt
I think absolutely. And I think especially with the different legs as well, once these once we have four, five, six years of Ekaden history, you start to go through and you actually are right. Well, yeah, this person can beat in 2025 and now they're off to the LA games in 2028. What a cool story.
00:28:07
Matt
um
00:28:07
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:28:07
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:28:08
Matt
and And what did they run for their leg um as a 20 year old compared to what the current crop of of youngsters are doing? So, yeah, I think time is is just going to grow this event even more.
00:28:20
UKRunChat
Yeah, fantastic. what What are your hopes, Anna, for Ekkedon over the next few years then?
00:28:26
Anna Dingley
Yeah, really, really similar to what Matt was saying. You know, that's what it is because you focus on the university students. They obviously moving out. And so there's always a new new students wanting to come along, wanting to all be sure not know what it is.
00:28:34
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:28:38
Anna Dingley
We actually put a lot of effort as well this year into mini Ekidens. We went into schools and ah had about 40 schools up and down the country. having mini Eki Dens. We sent them these boxes.
00:28:50
Anna Dingley
We had a little character called Eki and a little character called Den and and sent them you know ah huge details about what an Eki Den is in Japan and um and ah you know had some photos from last year, how they can learn about Japan through the Eki Den. Please come and watch.
00:29:07
Anna Dingley
We sent them, sort of showed showed them a map of the uk You know, when it's in primary school, you never really know where these towns are, saying where all the different teams were coming from and stuff.
00:29:11
UKRunChat
yeah
00:29:16
Anna Dingley
And so, you know, another goal is that these children, but that's something we really want to expand. these ah We've had lots of um kids coming up to us we made them little stickers saying, and I ran an Ekiden. And they loved it. You know, so there's lots of the schools doing it, too. And, ah you know, these kids, I went to do an assembly at one of the schools and the girls had won the national cross-country competition. They were 11.
00:29:37
Anna Dingley
So wouldn't it be amazing, you know, if if these in in just seven or eight years time, they're actually running in the main echidon and we've got photos of them from when they were primary school doing a mini one. and And, you know, obviously another idea is the sort of,
00:29:51
Anna Dingley
the exchange with Japan, it could be that a winning team gets a place to go and run in a big Japanese, Ekiden. They do have one that's mixed, but but it's quite difficult with universities in terms of timing. You know, the Japanese academic year is actually slightly different from ours. It goes from April to April. And um so, you know, getting the same team to be able to be all free at the same time rather than in the middle of an exams is a challenge. But I think that sort of exchange with Japan, maybe they,
00:30:19
Anna Dingley
get winning tickets to go. And there has to be some sort of comfort exchange, competition with Japan. and We want to, Matt and I, we've talked a lot, we need to lock down the route. Now, whether this route is all, next year is definitely going to be the same. Windsor to Reading and back. We love that change that Matt proposed last year to make it more competitive.
00:30:37
Anna Dingley
You know, maybe I've always said maybe every five to 10 years, we have a guest different route, a bit like the Tour de France, you know, moves around a lot, but we want to get it locked down so that people can compare well what was happening in 20 years from,
00:30:49
Anna Dingley
from them, but it's, it's a, that's a challenge on our busy, busy streets.
00:30:54
UKRunChat
Yeah, that sounds exciting. Yeah, because of course, you you mentioned the the cultural like bridges there you because you you had ah a visit.
00:30:56
Anna Dingley
and
00:31:01
UKRunChat
Was it a visit from the emperor last year? it was time.
00:31:03
Anna Dingley
That's right. Well, so we launched our first Eki-den when the um Japanese emperor and empress were in the UK last year.
00:31:04
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:31:09
UKRunChat
That's right. Yeah. yeah
00:31:11
Anna Dingley
And so this year we had a team that was called the state visit legacy team and it, we had runners from Buckingham palace, runners from the brad Japanese embassy. and the ambassador the Japanese ambassador um came to the UK, came and gave a speech and he said, which is what we'd always wanted, that the Ekiden is now always going to commemorate that visit, the state visit.
00:31:29
Anna Dingley
So in 10 years time, but everyone will know, well, that year one was when the emperor was here. So yeah, there's ah there's great connections. And I think a lot of British companies as well are wanting to to get to know, to work with their Japanese partners a bit better and and and understand that teamwork. and you know, in the working environment, sometimes it is difficult. Everyone's busy, you know, you can't, you can't get to know each other very well. But by getting sweaty together in a corporate team, you do, you know, we, we got them, you know, we, we've laid on sort of plans, we organised times where they could go and do a trial run at the weekends. And so people would get familiar with the route. And we, you know i think of that cultural exchange that um the kiddies learning, the kids learning about Japan, the,
00:32:15
Anna Dingley
um, students learning about Japan and meeting the Japanese students that that took part two, we had two, the main team from Japan was a team called Ritsumeikan. And then we had another team from Kagoshima, which is the equivalent of Kyushu, sorry, of of Cornwall in Japan, if place, in a place called Kyushu, the Southern Island.
00:32:31
Anna Dingley
And, uh, Yeah, having that sort of exchange when possible, it is going to be difficult, but we want to focus on a different prefecture. So it's a bit like a different county um every year. This year we focused on Kagoshima Ken, which is down in the south because of this 160th anniversary from when some students from there came over here.
00:32:50
Anna Dingley
And then next year, but it means that, you know, we chose some food and some drink from there. The prizes were from Kagoshima and lots of, you know, Japan puts a big um focus on the food and the cultural and sort of so crafts of that different area. So we're introducing that to British, the British countryside, ah British participants ah through the race. So we say it's a celebration of the best of Japan and the UK.
00:33:12
Anna Dingley
And ah we we want to try and introduce as many aspects as we can, but yeah, we need to focus on the prefecture for next year.
Engagement and Favorites
00:33:19
Anna Dingley
and we'll hopefully have a team from there or some sort of representatives, will be fun.
00:33:23
Anna Dingley
There's lots of cultural exchange going on too.
00:33:27
UKRunChat
so Yeah, sounds fantastic. and So, I mean, where can people follow UK Echidon? How do we get that buzz going about it? work You know, is there anywhere we can, we'll be able to watch it eventually and follow the race?
00:33:41
Matt
Yeah, 100%.
00:33:42
Anna Dingley
Do you want to go for Kat?
00:33:43
Matt
I mean, obviously there's ah the Instagram account.
00:33:44
Anna Dingley
and
00:33:46
Matt
So that was probably the first place that people ought go follow UK Ikeden on Instagram. And there's so many updates, so many reels. And, you Connell is doing a fantastic job and and his team at telling the story of the Ikeden and ah providing highlights from the race.
00:34:01
Matt
There is also a YouTube documentary, which is sitting on the distance projects at the moment on YouTube and will be on our our own YouTube as well. um And actually, they're they're piecing together that final video. They they caught up with all the four universities prior to the race, Birmingham, Loughborough, Leeds, Beckett and and Oxford. lead sorryen oxford and um And then yeah yeah they just went and visited, chatted to coaches, showcased their training, and now they're piecing together.
00:34:29
Matt
the the race highlight and everything and all the drama that happened on race day. So that will be coming out soon. So watch that series. There's probably a good two or three hours of, uh, of coverage there regarding the academic does a great job at explaining it all, but then also the website. Hey, Anna, like, um, it's, uh,
00:34:44
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:34:45
Matt
probably the best place to go to just learn about the event and why it was founded and, you know, the hopes for the future.
00:34:46
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:34:51
Matt
And then if you get on those channels now, you know, we're already probably in the next week or two, we're going to start talking about next year and um and building the excitement up for next year, getting those universities on board probably a little bit earlier than we did this year. I think we finally had them locked down and committed maybe February, March time if we if we if we were lucky. And whereas next year, we'd love to get them locked down kind of pre- the turn of of the new year and so we can really start to build that hype and excitement again going forward
00:35:22
UKRunChat
Oh, yes, so exciting. and So just one one final thing. What's your favourite thing about Ekaden then? One from you both, please. Anna, do you want to go first?
00:35:32
Anna Dingley
ah One thing, yeah, bringing everyone together. I mean, it's the teams, but it's the bigger community.
00:35:37
Matt
hmm
00:35:39
Anna Dingley
It's a big community thing. And that's what I guess at the start, you know, that's I've always liked doing that. But that was what I wanted everybody in the UK to learn the wonderful things about Japan. I want everybody, you know, the Japanese people to see the beautiful parts of British countryside. It's it's the it's the bringing everyone together, whether it's the runners or the wider community. It's just it's a feel good. It feels good. And it's a lot of work, though. It's a huge amount of work.
00:36:02
Anna Dingley
um and ah and And it's very stressful. It's been incredibly difficult. but But I think it's ah it's a feel-good thing. It's good to get everyone together. And when you open the news and you open the newspaper put them the telly, things can be quite negative.
00:36:16
Anna Dingley
and ah But it's a good it's good to see that force for good out there. And I think the Ekaden is certainly a force for good.
00:36:23
Matt
Well, I can't say that, but I totally agree with Anna, but yeah, I can't just say the same thing.
00:36:25
Anna Dingley
Yeah.
00:36:29
Matt
So think one of the big things for me and in our sport, you know, a guy who loves distance running and and wants to see it excel and be watched across the world, just like it is in Japan to huge to huge audiences, is the potential of of the Yikiden.
00:36:44
Matt
I think what endurance sports and and other sports out there do very, very well is not only do they have the race or the match or the competition, but they have a huge event around it, you know, a huge buzz and excitement and being there on Friday in Windsor on Brockersfield, you've got Windsor Castle in the backdrop. You've got the Thames flowing next to you.
00:37:03
Matt
You've got a beautiful sunny day and you've got athletes cheering on their runners finish up 114 kilometers and just the buzz at the finish line after. and And I could, I could see a world I was there and I was, I could see a world where there is four five ten thousand people you know on this field celebrating the yikiden coming together they're they're stoked because they've just been able to see some of the the future stars and they've cheered on their university or their company or whatever and it actually becoming a day a fixture not just in the running calendar but um in everyone's calendar full stop just like wimbledon is um just like silverstone is that sort of thing so
00:37:35
Anna Dingley
Yes.
00:37:38
Matt
and And I think the reason it's got that potential is because one, you know, the corporate teams involved and that race element. But the the big one for me is obviously just the universities um and that and that performance angle. And everyone has some affiliation with the university.
00:37:53
Matt
um And if you know, whether it be, you know, someone who goes there, you went there yourself, you live relatively close geographically. Yeah. whatever. And I think, yeah, the potential to see distance running on a, on a much bigger scale for that university age group, I think is, is huge.
00:38:10
UKRunChat
Fantastic. Well, we hope that you've enjoyed listening to the podcast, all of those out out there listening now. Anna and Matt, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing how UK Epidemi is growing. And we wish you all the very best. Do keep us posted as well about what's next. We we always love to hear about it.
00:38:28
Anna Dingley
isn
00:38:28
UKRunChat
And um we'll pop all the links to the website and the Instagram and and YouTube in the show notes for anybody who wants to find out more.
00:38:35
Anna Dingley
um
00:38:37
UKRunChat
So thank you both so much.
00:38:38
Anna Dingley
Great, thank you very much.
00:38:40
Matt
Thank you.
00:38:41
Anna Dingley
See you next year.
00:38:42
UKRunChat
Yeah, see you next year hopefully.
00:38:43
Anna Dingley
ah yeah
00:38:44
UKRunChat
And we'll see all of you on the next episode of the UK Run Chat podcast.