Exploring the Hida Takayama Ultramarathon Course
Preparation for the 2026 Hida Takayama Ultramarathon
Introduction
On June 14th 2026 the Hida Takayama Ultramarathon will be held in Hida region of Gifu Prefecture. This ultramarathon is part of a series of (now) five races through UNESCO Global Geoparks, which include the Nobeyama Ultramarathon (which I ran last year), the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon (which I ran in 2024), the Hida Takayama Ultramarathon (this run), the Tango Ultramarathon and from 2026, the Nara Ultramarathon.
I love running events like this, but attending these events is quite a major undertaking. This is my third in the series and over the next few years I hope to be able to complete all of them.
With all of the information for these races being in Japanese, I take it upon myself to carefully study the race information beforehand so I don’t get surprised with anything too wild on the day.
大会の特徴 (Event features)
The race starts at 飛騨高山ビッグアリーナ (Hida Takayama Big Arena) , and has you running through a historic district and natural beauty of the 美女高原 (Bijo kōgen: Beautiful woman plateu). The course itself has a combined elevation of 1,599 meters.
I confirmed with a friend of mine who rant this last year and it looks like it is all roads.
One of the main draws for this race is the food at the aid stations. The Hida region is famous for 飛騨牛 (Hida Gyū : Hida beef) so I am vey much looking forward to the aid stations.
There are no hot springs on this course, but there are a number of historic areas that we run through. The 3.5 km point travels through 古い町並 (the old townscape) where runners can enjoy views of an old style Japanese town. Checkpoint at 道の駅ひだ朝日村 (Roadside Station Hida Asahi Village) looks like an old style roadside station (not visible on the map but looks nice when I look it up). The next section of the course will be a scenic run through the 美女高原 (Bijo plateau), followed by a visit to 千光寺 (Senkōji: Sengō Temple) at 61.3 km. After that it looks like it will be largely downhill and flat until about 80 km, followed by the final boss of a hill then a downhill trot to the finish line at Hida Takayama Big Arena.
Course points
The homepage of the course talks about the aid stations having local specialties available like amanatto, soba noodles, and fruit. I remember from the Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon that the food/drink from the aid stations were very good and the staff were very friendly. I will be heavily relying on these during the race and keeping my equipment to a minumum.
Below are the course points on this run:
0.0 km. 飛騨高山ビッグアリーナ (Hida Takayama Big Arena) - Start at 04:30
5.9 km. 高山信用金庫 三福寺支店 (Takayama Shinkin Bank, Sanfukuji Branch)
10.7 km. 塩屋公民館 (Shioya Community Center)
16.7 km. 美女高原 (Bijo Highlands)
19.6 km. 飛騨高山ワインアポセカリー（旧ひまわり農園前） (Hida Takayama Wine Apothecary, former Himawari Farm site)
25.9 km. 道の駅ひだ朝日村 (Michi-no-Eki Hida Asahi Village) - First Checkpoint (08:20 cutoff)
30.0 km. 桑野ふれあい公園横 (Beside Kuwano Fureai Park)
35.1 km. 走り乃神社 (Hashiri-no Shrine)
40.4 km. 飛騨農園街道空き地 (Vacant lot on Hida Farm Road)
44.8 km. 岩滝公民館 (Iwataki Community Center)- Second Checkpoint (11:00 cutoff)
52.6 km. 農道途中空き地（大羅野団地） (Vacant lot on farm road, Dairano Housing Area)
56.7 km. 丹生川支所 (Nyūkawa Branch Office) - Third Checkpoint (12:30 cutoff)
Distance not shown in extracted text. 新張公民館 (Shinbari Community Center)
61.3 km. 千光寺 (Senkōji Temple)
65.1 km. 下柏林道終点 (End of Shimokashi Forest Road)
68.8 km. 宮地公民館 (Miyaji Community Center)
73.8 km. 国府B&G海洋センター (Kokufu B&G Marine Center)- Fourth Checkpoint (14:50 cutoff)
78.2 km. 村山公民館 (Murayama Community Center)
Distance not shown in extracted text. 下切公民館 (Shimogiri Community Center)
82.4 km. スズキ薬局高山インター店前 (In front of Suzuki Pharmacy Takayama Inter Store)
87.0 km. 八日町酪農支部（旧八日町新鮮野菜販売所） (Yōkamachi Dairy Branch, former Yōkamachi Fresh Vegetable Market)
90.8 km. メカトロニクス空き地 (Mechatronics Vacant Lot)
93.0 km. 公文書館 (Archives Building) - Fifth Checkpoint (17:30 cutoff)
95.8 km. 八日町空き地 (Yōkamachi Vacant Lot)
FINISH. 100.0 km. 飛騨高山ビッグアリーナ (Hida Takayama Big Arena) - (18:30 cutoff)
Final prep
I received my race number and t-shirt in the mail a while ago. I am in wave A starting at 4:30 am. I’m traveling up to Hida the day before with a friend of mine but I have a hotel room for one. No sharing rooms this time so I have a bit more flexibility.
I have already run two races in this series so I will hopefully be prepared for this one. Looking at the terrain and the elevation it looks like it won’t be as punishing as Nobeyama…but 100 km ultra marathons are always punishing. It’s like saying I think there will be fewer nails in the bat I’m about to hit with than last time.
I plan to run this race with a friend of mine. It would be nice to get a good time on this one, but the main thing to me is always to just run and have fun.
Recently my running volume hasn’t been as high as I would like it to be due to traveling. Considering I recently ran the Fuji 100 Kai, I am probably still in good condition for this run. We’ll find out on the day.
頑張ります (Ganbarimasu)
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