Mt. Fuji is a symbol of Japan, and a world heritage site.

At its foot, one of Asia's biggest trail-running races is held:

The Ultra Trail Mt. Fuji.

The race stretches a hundred miles, or 164 kilometers.

And those looking to win will have no time to rest.

For the first time in four years, this race will see a truly international line-up of the world's top runners.

I want to win every race.

This course will be a picnic!

I use the climbing to my advantage and then just bring it home and to the finish line.

And Japan's top runners are ready for them.

Get ready for fierce competition on the Mount Fuji trail!

The race is happening in Japan.
Of course Japanese people should run.

This'll be fun.

The pandemic meant only Japanese participants could run in last year's race.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the race is back in full form, with runners from around the world.

Around 2,400 runners
from 26 countries and regions join.

We'll do our best!

The first wave will set off soon.

The course begins on the south side of Mt. Fuji, climbing around thirty mountains and peaks.

Runners have 45 hours to complete the 164-kilometer course,

and those aiming to win will have little time to rest en route.

One runner leaps ahead right from the start.

It takes everyone by surprise.

- That's incredible.
- He's so fast!

Who is it that's setting off like a sprinter?

Zhao Jiaju of China, a favorite to win.

He's a well-known professional runner who's taken 28 victories in just six years.

At this point, he's running a kilometer in three minutes thirty seconds.

If maintained, he could complete a full marathon in just two and a half hours.

When I feel good, I start fast.

I'm competing against myself.

I set my own goal and
aim to beat it.

Zhao's goal is to finish in under 20 hours.

He's working to establish a solid lead.

The 24-kilometer mark.

This is an aid station where runners can refuel with food and water.

There are nine such aid stations along the course.

Race leader Zhao arrives.

- How do you feel?
- Not bad.

Zhao is moving fast and only stocks up on water.

He heads out without eating.

Next, a group arrives.

They're seven minutes behind Zhao.

That's a gap of nearly two kilometers.

"It's still early on in the race."

"The runners will strategize
and find their own pace."

The thirty-kilometer mark.

This is the biggest obstacle of the first half of the trail:

The Tenshi Mountains.

Runners must navigate steep slopes that rise 800 meters before traveling over three separate peaks.

It's 16 kilometers of constant ups and downs.

Zhao from China has entered the Tenshi Mountains.

The steep incline doesn't slow him down.

There's a reason for his speed and stamina.

Kung fu.

Zhao incorporates kung fu into his daily training.

And that's not all.

He practices running mountain trails with 1.5-kilogram weights on each ankle.

Zhao was born in a poor farming village.

He dreamed of making a living as a martial artist, but the stars never aligned.

He switched his ambition to marathons, but didn't make much headway.

At 22, a chance decision to try trail running brought him a win.

I want to change my life by running.

I trained hard every day.

Hard work and a lot of running
finally led to results.

Trail running is very popular in China, and many races offer monetary prizes.

Zhao's many victories mean he can make a living through the sport.

He's now one of China's top professional trail runners.

I'm dedicated to trail running.
It's the only thing in my life.

The group of runners in second place arrives at the Tenshi Mountains seven minutes behind Zhao.

One pulls ahead of the pack. Kawasaki Yuya, a runner who's local to the area.

This is where it really starts.

Kawasaki is a member of the Ground Self-Defense Forces stationed at the foot of Mount Fuji.

He trains here regularly.

By pushing his body to run at an elevation above 3,000 meters even in the summer,

he's improved his heart and lung function.

He's confident in his climbing abilities, and hopes to close the gap with Zhao.

It's really fun.

I want to find out how far I can go.

Four hours into the race, Zhao has kept up his speed, but now looks a little tired.

6:27 PM. Zhao makes it over the third peak, Mt. Kumamori.

Second-place Kawasaki is catching up.

He's also over the top of Mt. Kumamori, and just three minutes behind Zhao.

He closed the gap on the climb.

Zhao is in his sights.

Kawasaki speeds up.

The race is happening in Japan.
Of course Japanese people should run.

He's ahead of me.

Naturally I'll chase him.

Another runner has picked up the pace in the mountains.

Hello.

Anthony Lee, currently in fourth place.

He's a professional runner from the US.

Lee trained in the mountains of Colorado and has overtaken six people on these steep slopes.

He's gaining fast.

He catches up to third-place runner Onitsuka, from Japan.

Go ahead.

Onitsuka lets Lee pass.

He's now in third place.

The aid station at the 51-kilometer mark.

Zhao from China arrives first.

Athletes are permitted to have a supporter meet them at this station.

Open them, I'll have three.

Zhao's supporter offers him energy gels.

He swallows them down with water.

It means he can minimize his time here.

All three are gone in a flash.

Zhao heads out again after just three minutes.

"Kawasaki-san!"

Second-place runner Kawasaki arrives shortly after-just five minutes behind.

Though he gained time on the ascent, he lost some time on the way down.

- The lead's gone?
- Just left.

- Already?
- Only here 3 minutes.

- Didn't eat?
- He did.

In contrast to Zhao, Kawasaki makes sure to fill up on carbs.

He eats rice porridge and fried noodles.

And he heads out. Eating has put him seven minutes behind Zhao.

Will his strategy pay off?

The sixty-kilometer mark.

The runners are about to return to the mountains.

Skilled at inclines, Kawasaki knows this is a chance to catch up with Zhao again.

What's the lion on your back?

My son's handprint.
My wife made it.

It's the shape of his hand.
Cute, right?

Two months before today's race, Kawasaki and his wife had their first child:

Hotaka, a baby boy.

This will be Kawasaki's first race as a father, and that means a lot to him.

Raising a kid is hard.
But I don't want it to slow me down.

I want to make my mark on
the race as a father.

A tiny hand helping his father make it up the long slope.

Another battle is underway for third place.

Earlier, American runner Lee passed Onitsuka to take third place.

They've been competing for the position ever since.

Lee pulls ahead.

He's a skilled climber.

- You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.

Nice evening, yeah, good pacing.

Lee turned pro in 2022, at age 27.

As a child, he was obese.

He began running for his health, and it became a key part of his life.

At 20, he took up trail running at a family member's suggestion.

He completed his first hundred-mile race at 21.

He's now an experienced runner with 17 such races under his belt.

The trails are great.

Very tough, the roads are very fast, and then the trails are up and down, steep, slippery.

Yeah, lots of leaves and rocks.

Very technical. Very fun.

Having achieved a lead at third place, Lee is now aiming even higher.

Only a few of the 2,400 runners
are aiming to place highly.

Most simply want to finish the course.

A runner on the ground.

Cramps!

Dehydration is making his leg muscles cramp.

- Bend it all the way.
- Like this?

That's great, thank you.

- I'm so grateful.
- No worries.

They help and encourage one another, heading toward the finish line.

Zhao has maintained first place from the very beginning.

He continues his solitary run, with no sign of slowing down.

Zhao has a personal reason for wanting to win this race:

His friendship with another runner.

Liang Jing.

A top Chinese runner who often competed internationally.

In 2019, Liang ran the Fuji trail, vying for first place until the very end.

But he placed second.

Liang means a lot to Zhao.

We competed, but we were
also very good friends.

We raced and grew, and
helped each other improve.

In 2021, extreme weather conditions on a Chinese trail race led to tragedy.

Temperatures plummeted suddenly, and 21 runners stranded in the mountains died of hypothermia.

One of them was Liang.

I lost my running partner.

We'll never compete again.

Zhao focuses on the trail his friend followed four years ago.

People say they see
Liang Jing in me.

If I win today, then
he'll have won, too.

It's been ten hours since the race began.

The aid station at the 96-kilometer mark is over halfway through the course.

Zhao is the first to arrive.

He still doesn't eat, and again washes down energy gel with water.

It minimizes his stopping time.

Tell me the gap later.

Zhao is concerned about the time gap with Kawasaki.

The pressure of being chased is starting to show.

Kawasaki arrives.

He's currently eleven minutes behind Zhao.

But just like before, he eats heartily.

There's no panic.

Good luck!

The 105-kilometer mark.

Zhao is climbing yet another slope.

Earlier, he would have run up an incline like this one.

But now, he's walking.

Even as the trail flattens out, he's still walking.

Zhao's pace has slowed.

Second-place runner Kawasaki approaches.

He's running, and doesn't slow down even on the steep inclines.

Zhao was so fast earlier,
I figured he'd slow down.

I took proper breaks.
He rushed his refueling.

I have a chance.

2 AM. The 96-kilometer mark.

American pro runner Lee approaches.

He'd tangled with Onitsuka over third place, but has now fallen to eighth.

Not good.

What's happened to him?

I'm just gonna be a minute.

Gonna be here a while.

I need to reset.

Uh, last aid station to here was pretty bad, for me.

I was just vomiting and yeah, couldn't eat anything.

Lee had hoped to place highly, but decides to take a rest here.

He puts on a jacket to stay warm, and takes some deep breaths.

With about 80 kilometers left, can Lee make it to the end?

In races of this length, the gap between the first and last runners grows larger over time.

The top runners have cleared more than a hundred kilometers by the early hours of the second day,

while runners at the rear have barely made half that distance.

The 51-kilometer mark aid station is just past the difficult Tenshi Mountains.

Exhausted runners decide whether or not to continue.

I'm dropping out.

- You're out?
- Yeah, I'm done.

Every aid station has a cutoff time.

If a runner doesn't make it by then, they're not permitted to continue.

- One minute left!
- Hurray!

It's cutoff time.

I didn't make it!

- You're out of time.
- I didn't make it.

By 5 AM on the second day, 215 runners are out of the race.

Morning arrives on the second day.

Mt. Fuji is shrouded by mist,
hiding from the runners.

The top runners are at the 140-kilometer mark.

Mt. Shakushi lies ahead.

This is the toughest part of the trail.

A rocky cliff interrupts the long climb upwards.

It's been the downfall of many past runners.

Zhao approaches.

He reaches the rocky ascent.

For an exhausted runner, it's a nasty climb.

Whenever I hit a wall,
he always crosses my mind.

Liang Jing, his friend who passed away.

Four years ago, Liang also scaled these rocks.

It means a lot to me that I'm
following in his footsteps here.

7:29 AM. Zhao makes it over the peak of Mt. Shakushi.

Now he races down, descending 800 meters.

Here's Kawasaki, in second place.

At the bottom of the mountain, he was 17 minutes behind.

But he closed that gap on the way up.

I'm exhausted.

Makes sense after 140 km.

All that's left is sheer will.

Up ahead, Zhao must also be tired.

That thought keeps Kawasaki going.

He reaches the peak of Mt. Shakushi.

He's closed the gap with Zhao to 12 minutes, making up five minutes on the climb.

He's determined to get closer on the way down.

But Zhao is equally determined to stay out front.

Can his pride as a local push Kawasaki to a win?

The first in sight is...

Zhao!

He stayed in the lead from start to finish, never once giving up his place.

Zhao comes in first, finishing in 19 hours and 35 minutes.

He's won the race and honored the memory of his friend Liang.

I've fulfilled his dream.

And my own dream, as well.

Kawasaki Yuya!

Kawasaki comes in second place, 19 minutes behind Zhao.

They finally meet after a battle that raged for nearly 20 hours.

I wondered how good he was,
and he's extraordinary.

I did my best, short of passing out.

I'm pretty happy with the result.

Lee was in bad shape at the 96-kilometer mark.

But he managed to keep going.

No calories in me.

That's not all.

Right now, my foot is kind of aching and so I can't really run downhill, but it's okay.

I'm going to get it done.

So good.

Do you think you can finish?

Yeah, no question.

Just painful and slow right now.

Almost...

This is Lee's first time in Japan.

He planned to visit in 2020, but the race was canceled due to the pandemic.

After a three-year wait, he's finally able to run the mountains of Japan.

Do you like Japanese mountains?

Yeah, Japanese mountain's tough.

So hard to train for in the US, nothing like it.

Yeah, this is crazy.

The Japanese runners are so strong.

You look very strong.

Thank you.

Trying my best.

Always forward progression.

At one point, Lee had been unable to move.

His injured foot means he can't go fast, but he keeps moving forward.

Hi, Anthony!

- Nice run!
- Thank you.

Made it back!

A long day...

The young American trail runner, Anthony Lee!

Congratulations!

Lee finishes in 18th place.

Good, yeah, it was amazing.

Yeah, I decided to keep moving because if you stay in one place you're not gonna finish, so yeah.

It was good to keep moving and just keep putting one foot in front of the other to get to the finish line.

So yeah, it was a great race, really excited and hopefully we will be coming back next year.

The third day of the race.

Some runners hoping to complete the course are still battling onwards.

They're fighting exhaustion and pain to climb up Mt. Shakushi.

I'm so tired!

I love this race.
It's my first 100-mile race.

But I might not finish.

Once they make it over Mt. Shakushi,

the runners' biggest challenge is making it to the finish line by 11:30.

If they don't, their achievement will not be recognized.

10:30 AM. The final group of runners has arrived at the last peak, Mt. Shimoyama.

One is crawling forward.

She sits down.

Just take it nice and slow.

No. I want to make the cutoff.

She makes it back up again.

I'm going to make it in time.

Okay.

Matsumoto Kyoko.

She began running in her 40s to maintain her health.

She's only attempted one previous hundred-mile race, but couldn't complete it.

It's just 3 kilometers to the finish.

She has 40 minutes to make the cutoff time.

I'm so emotional.

It's amazing.

Everyone was so excited.

Two more kilometers.

22 minutes left!

Move your arms, that's it.

Matsumoto, the last runner, has dug deep to reach this point.

So close, you can do this!

- Hang in there!
- You can get up, stay strong!

- I'm okay.
- Take it slow.

The rules mean that no one can help her.

That's it!
Keep going!

Just two minutes, go!

Two minutes left.

And the finish line is in sight.

It's okay, it's okay!

Take it nice and easy.

My legs won't move...

But I want to make it.
Even if I miss the cutoff.

- Okay. I'll do it.
- Slowly. Nice and slow.

It's now 11:30.

The cutoff has come and gone.

Even if she makes it, her run will not be officially recognized.

But everyone is waiting for Matsumoto all the same.

She passes the finish line, three minutes and fifty seconds past the cutoff time.

The cheering made me so happy.
Thank you.

They say the finish line of one hundred-mile race is the start of the next one.

No doubt the runners will be back at the foot of Mt. Fuji next year.