The first online team relay race to take place in the Covid-19 era, the Mizuno Ekiden Online Race allows you to form a team with two to four of your friends, or else to join a public team, in order to possibly compete for top honours.

This virtual event is organised by Spacebib and RunSociety.

And with the virtual format, it meant that the timing and location are flexible. Runners could complete their respective leg of the relay in either a single run or multiple runs and at any time of their choosing, anytime between 1st – 14th of September.

This had actually been a postponed race date. 

The original date for the virtual run was supposed to have been in May, but because of strict Covid-19 restrictions then and the Circuit breaker period in Singapore, the organisers had decided to postpone the race to a time when the rules on gatherings became a bit more relaxed, in case groups of friends may have wanted to come together to complete their race.

When the new race date drew near, my team mates and I decided to do our respective legs solo and on our own, at a route and timing of our choosing, rather than meeting up for the run. 

We had felt that this would be more convenient for each of us, as it means we would not have to adhere to each other’s busy schedules.

My Mizuno Ekiden race tee arrived in the post a few days before the race, just in time for me to wear it to run with. The fit was snug and good and the material appears to be breathable and absorbent. The design is also good. It is a tee that I would definitely continue using in time to come.

I had completed my leg of the relay in the evening on the first Friday of September, completing about 10.8km in a single run, within roughly one hour and four minutes. It was a slightly faster pace than I had originally intended.

I had targeted Friday, so that I could combine the Mizuno Ekiden run together with the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 10km virtual race, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

My team mates had already completed their respective runs prior to me, so it meant I was the last team member to get mine done.

My running route began at my house, located in the South-Eastern part of Singapore, and running through the parks and park connectors in the direction of town. 

It was not the smoothest of routes and had comprised of some traffic junctions along the way. These affected my running rhythm a little bit, but I managed to get by.

Upon completing my run, it was easy to submit, via the Spacebib virtual race portal. 

I had only needed to log into my account and upload a screenshot of my run, as evidence that I had completed it, along with the time and distance of my run. This was simple to do and fuss-free.

On the submission portal, I am able to see the distance that each of my team mates have run, but not their respective running routes. I guess this may be due to privacy protection reasons.

My race medal arrived in the post early, about a week after the successful submission of my run, despite the fact that the virtual run had not officially concluded yet. 

I thought that it had been quite efficient of the organisers and I guess that they were sending out the medals in stages, so that they would not have too many medals to post upon the official conclusion of the online race.

Overall, despite this year’s Mizuno Ekiden being different to the physical event and fanfare that had taken place at Mizuno Ekiden events in previous years, I would say that I still had fun in planning and designing my own 10km route and subsequently completing it. I have to admit that I did miss the fanfare, though.