Ekiden 2026 – 05/07/2026

8 April 2026 - By Jodee Mayer

Our next big team race is this year’s Ekiden Relay, an annual race held by Ipswich Jaffa.

Originating as a popular race format in Japan, Ekiden involves each team of 6 people taking on legs of different lengths which add up to a marathon. One runner will tackle 7.2km, three will complete a 5km leg, and two will take on 10km legs.

We are doing things differently this year – and thanks to Mark Austin for this idea! We are going to organise the teams so that the team finishing times will be as close as possible to each other – this will be based on your best 5k and/or 10k time from the last year. It will then be a club competition to see which team can push a little beyond their best to beat the other teams – all with our usually team spirit and supporting each other of course!

If you don’t fancy running but are happy to come along and help the Jaffas by volunteering do also let me know.

Venue and Course information

Ekiden this year will be held on 05 July 2026 at Ipswich High School, IP9 1AZ, with arrival by 9.45 am, for a race start of 10.20am.

The course is off road, mainly on a flat lawn course.

There will likely be food and drink on sale, and we will also do a picnic again.

The day should be good fun with the team members not currently running being able to support and cheer on their teammates throughout the race. The write up of the 2025 event is here for anyone not quite sure about taking part – including a couple of comments from first time Ekiden runners – despite the changing weather it really was a great day!

Sign up

As usual, we have reserved some teams based on last year’s participation, but need to confirm and pay for the teams 2 weeks in advance of race day.

Teams are, as usual for this type of event, based on age on the date of the race.  Therefore, if you wish to take part please complete the below form, with the category you will be in on 05 July 2026 (open is for women aged under 35 (34 or younger) and men aged under 40 (39 or younger) on race day) before 5pm on Friday 29 May 2026.

Please also provide your best 5k and/or 10k (ideally both!) from the last year so we can sort the teams.

This will allow us some time to search for specific runners and complete any teams as needed.

If you do not have an EA licence, you can still run, but please add a comment when you sign up to advise of the same so that we can try to create the teams appropriately. You will need to have a WRC race vest (black and gold) to run in on the day.

Cost

The race is free for members, and we absolutely encourage anyone that would like to run to do so.

We understand that injuries and emergencies do happen. However, as I have made very clear in the last few years, organising the teams for Ekiden is more stressful than planning a wedding, particularly when there are (arguably avoidable) drop outs in the few days leading up to the event. Therefore, if you sign up please put the event in your diary/calendar/filofax and let us know ASAP if you can’t run.

Please note that, at the discretion of the captains, anyone who drops out after 12 June 2026 will be deducted 100 club champs points.

Let us know below or on Facebook if you have any queries.

Jodee

• Irina Ashdown – Ladies Open
• Lee Tooey – Men’s Vets (40+)
• Annalise Etherington – Ladies Open
• Simon handley – Men’s Vets (40+)
• Samuel Hajder – Men’s Vets (40+)
• Liz Atkinson – Ladies Open
• Celine Elson – Ladies Super Vets (45+)
• Amy Eyo – Ladies Vets (35+)
• Will Radley – Men’s Open
• Stamatios Katsimis – Men’s Super Vets (50+)
• Lisa Leader – Ladies Super Vets (45+)
• James Montgomery – Men’s Super Vets (50+)
• Glen Waller – Men’s Vets (40+)
• Colin Short – Over 70 (any gender)
• Liz Stuckey – Ladies Super Vets (45+)
• Jamie Light – Men’s Open
• Rachel Sharp – Ladies Super Vets (45+)
• Mark Austin – Over 60 (any gender)
• Owen Dare – Over 60 (any gender)
• Lysia Jiggins – Ladies Super Vets (45+)