Racing the UTMB Kaga Spa Trail Endurance 100 and Discovering One of Japan's Most Charming Onsen Towns
- Alex
- Jun 24
- 8 min read
Tokyo to Kaga Onsen: Another Adventure Begins
One of the reasons I love trail running in Japan is because it combines competition, adventure and travel all into one. I love racing and testing myself against both the mountains and my own mind, but I also love where these events take me. Instead of spending every weekend in Tokyo, I've found myself travelling all over Japan, and throughout Asia, discovering tiny mountain villages, remote trail networks, traditional onsens and local restaurants that I never would have visited otherwise.
This time, our destination was Kaga Onsen in Ishikawa Prefecture for the Kaga Spa Trail Endurance 100, part of the UTMB World Series.
If you've never heard of Kaga Onsen before, don't worry, neither had I until I started looking at the race calendar.
Kaga Onsen is one of Japan's most famous hot spring regions, made up of several traditional onsen towns nestled amongst the mountains of Ishikawa. The race itself centres around Yamanaka Onsen, a beautiful little town surrounded by forests, rivers and hiking trails. Compared to somewhere like Hakone, which has become incredibly popular with international visitors, Yamanaka still feels EXTREMELY local. It's quiet, peaceful, and exactly the sort of place I love encouraging people to visit when they come to Japan.
Rather than rushing from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka like most tourists do, weekends like this remind me just how much of Japan exists in between those famous destinations.
Sebastian and I caught an early Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, making our usual pre-race pilgrimage to grab coffee and a couple of ekiben before boarding our bullet train. I think eating an ekiben while watching the Japanese countryside roll past the window is one of life's great pleasures. It's become part of the ritual now. Coffee. Ekiben. Train. Nap hehe. Wake up somewhere completely different.
Three hours later we arrived at Kaga Onsen Station, and headed straight over to race registration.
This weekend was a little different to our usual race weekends though.
Not only was I racing the 20k event, but Sebastian was too!! Even better, it happened to fall on his birthday! It was going to be his very first trail race, which made the whole weekend feel that little bit more special.
After collecting our race packs, we checked into our accommodation. It wasn't quite a traditional ryokan, but it wasn't really a hotel either. It sat somewhere in the middle, giving us the comfort of a hotel while still retaining that unmistakable Japanese atmosphere.
Once we'd dropped our bags, we headed back outside to explore.
One thing I love doing before race day is finding the starting and/or finish line, and doing a little course recon. It makes everything feel real. We wandered through town, checked out the race "village", picked up a few snacks and supplies, and simply enjoyed walking around.
Yamanaka Onsen immediately felt different to Tokyo. There were no crowds spilling out of train stations. No endless traffic. No skyscrapers towering overhead. Instead, there were traditional buildings, quiet streets, little cafés, and people wandering around at a much slower pace. It felt like the sort of town where nobody was in a hurry, and for a weekend away from the city, that was exactly what we were after.
I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions people have about travelling in Japan. So many visitors think Japan is all neon lights, giant cities and bullet trains. Those things are incredible, but they're only one side of the country. Some of my favourite weekends in Japan have been spent in places like this, where life slows down and you can simply enjoy being somewhere completely different.
That evening, we wandered back to our accommodation for dinner.
Unfortunately... our accom happened to be serving an all-you-can-eat buffet lol...
Peak Athlete Behaviour... Or The Complete Opposite?
Now, if you've ever wondered how not to prepare for a short and sharp 20k mountain race, allow me to demonstrate.
Sebastian and I absolutely demolished the buffet.
I'm talking multiple plates, desserts, seconds, thirds, fourths... basically anything that looked remotely edible found its way onto our trays.
At the time, it felt like a fantastic decision.
A couple of hours later, lying in bed with stomachs so full we could barely move, we both realised perhaps we'd slightly over done it.
Sleep didn't come easily.
Instead of drifting off, our bodies seemed determined to spend the entire evening digesting what felt like, and what literally was, several kilograms of food. We eventually fell asleep somewhere around eleven or eleven-thirty, knowing full well that our alarm was set for four o'clock the following morning lol.
Not exactly textbook race preparation.
Still, looking back now, it makes me laugh. Race weekends have this funny way of balancing serious athletic preparation with complete stupidity. One minute you're carefully calculating race nutrition, and the next you're convincing yourself that another plate of dessert is somehow beneficial because you're "carb loading."
Peak athlete behaviour.. Or not.
The four o'clock alarm came around surprisingly quickly..
Outside, the morning was cool, sitting around 23 degrees, although the humidity was definitely lingering in the air. Standing still it actually felt quite pleasant, but I knew once we started racing and our heart rates climbed, it would become a very different story.
By five o'clock we were making our way towards the shuttle buses that would take all of the 20k runners up into the mountains.
There's something I really enjoy about those couple of hours before a race.
Everyone is quiet. Some runners are stretching, others are eating breakfast, and some are nervously pacing around checking their watches every thirty seconds. Nobody says much, but everyone is thinking exactly the same thing - soon enough, it's time to find out what you've got.
20kms of Controlled Chaos
One thing I love about these shorter trail races is how brutally honest they can be.
20 kilometers doesn't sound particularly far, especially compared to a marathon or an ultra, but in many ways I think they're harder.
They can be harder simply because there's nowhere to hide.
You're not trying to conserve energy for 10, 12, or 24 hours. You're asking your body to operate right on its limit for the duration of an entire race. And your job is to stay there without breaking physically or mentally.
That's what I love.
Trail running, at least for me, has never really been about beating other people, or even achieving a certain time. For me, it's about finding that point where everything starts hurting, where your breathing becomes ragged, your legs begin questioning what you're doing, and that little voice in your head starts trying to negotiate.
I love hearing that voice because it gives me an opportunity to shut it down. "Maybe back off a little." "You're pushing too hard." "Nobody will know if you ease up for a minute."
That's what trail racing is to me. It's you versus your own mind.
Fortunately, I had a very clear race strategy going into Kaga Spa. I wanted to run the flatter sections at a strong threshold pace, power hike every climb instead of wasting energy trying to run them, absolutely attack every descent, and then empty whatever was left in the tank over the final few kilometres.
Simple. And I absolutely love a simple, executable plan.
Thankfully, that's exactly how the race unfolded.
The course featured three main climbs, each demanding respect rather than ego. Instead of trying to impress anyone by running uphill, I stuck to my strategy, drove hard with powerful hiking, and then made up time on the descents and faster runnable sections.
Coming into the final few kilometres, I found myself battling alongside some incredibly talented Japanese trail runners. One of them was Aki Matsunaga, whose Deep Japan Ultra I would be racing the following weekend.
Another was Kana Edamoto, who I'd watched dominate the 50k race in Taiwan earlier this year, and on top of racing in the 20k, she's scheduled to lined up for the fifty kilometre event the following day. What an absolute weapon.
Trading places with runners of that calibre over the closing stages was incredibly motivating, and crossing the finish line in 1 hour and 47 minutes, good enough for 6th overall and 1st in my age group, left me incredibly satisfied.
More than the result itself, I was happy because I'd executed exactly the race I'd planned. And I know that within myself, I couldn't have given a better performance. I gave everything I could and for me, that's the most rewarding part.
The Best Finish Line Wasn't Mine
As pleased as I was with my own race, the moment I'll remember most happened well after I'd crossed the finish line.
By then, the rain had really set in.
I grabbed some recovery food, wandered around the finish area and headed up the road to wait for Sebastian.
Eventually he came running over the final crossing and we made our way down the final road section towards the finish together.
Less than eighteen months ago, the furthest he'd ever run was ten kilometres, which was with me in Perth. Since moving to Japan we've trained together almost every day. We follow the same training program, eat the same meals, and are building Welcome to Japan together. Watching his progress has been incredible.
So when I saw him coming around that final corner, I jumped in beside him and we ran the last few hundred metres together.
Crossing that finish line with him on his very first trail race, on his birthday no less, honestly meant more to me than my own result.
The race gives you a reason to travel, but it's the people you're with that make the memories last. Afterwards, we caught up with my good mate Rio, who'd been taking photos throughout the day, before heading into town for a very well-earned late lunch.
Now, anyone who knows me knows I have an absolutely ridiculous weakness for French toast. Maple syrup. Fresh cream. Soft fluffy bread. Berries. If it's on the menu, there's about a ninety-nine percent chance I'm ordering it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exactly how recovery should be spent. Good food, great company, and multiple trips to the onsen.
Having both indoor and outdoor baths waiting for you after a hard trail race is one of those uniquely Japanese experiences that never gets old. Sitting in steaming hot water while looking out towards the surrounding greenery, with tired legs slowly beginning to recover, is about as close to perfect as post-race recovery gets.
That evening... Yes. We went back to the buffet. Apparently we hadn't learnt our lesson from the night before lol.
Why Weekends Like This Matter
The following morning, we packed our bags, walked back to Kaga Onsen Station and boarded another Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.
Three hours later we were back amongst the crowds, skyscrapers and organised chaos of the capital, ready to jump straight back into running Welcome to Japan.
I had tours waiting during the week, a couple of friends visiting from Perth, and perhaps most excitingly, Deep Japan Ultra was only a week away. My first proper eighty-kilometre mountain ultra.
As I sat on the train heading back towards Tokyo, I found myself thinking about how grateful I am that trail running has introduced me to places like Kaga Onsen. Before I started racing, I would never have visited Yamanaka. Now it's another little corner of Japan I'll always associate with great memories. That's one of the reasons I encourage people to get beyond the "Golden Route" whenever they visit Japan. Places like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka absolutely deserve their reputation, but they're only part of the story.
Some of the country's greatest experiences happen in places you've never heard of before you arrive.
A quiet onsen town. A tiny family-run café. A mountain trail surrounded by cedar forests.
A conversation with a local you'll never forget. For me, that's what these race weekends are really about. The race simply gives me a reason to discover another incredible part of Japan. And honestly, I can't wait to see where the next start line takes me!
Thanks so much for reading! If you’re interested in this side of what I’m doing, I’m documenting my full racing and training journey as I build in this space! You can follow along on Instagram, or check out my website. If you have any questions around fitness, racing, or performance, or you’re keen to train or collaborate, feel free to reach out!
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