GO ASIA TRAIL 
It has been almost two weeks since Kaga Spa by UTMB was closed.
On social networking sites such as X and Threads, the event management sent out a questionnaire on July 2, and one of the questions asked was "How many times have you participated in this race?" even though this was the first time the event was held. The questionnaire was supposed to take about five minutes to complete, but in fact it was much longer than that. There was plenty to talk about even after the race...
Japanese media specializing in trail running
One more thing I find strange is that the Japanese media did not report any news about the management problems of Kaga SPA.
I know that major media such as newspapers and TV stations will not report on it unless there is a major accident, but I feel strange that the media specializing in trail running in Japan has not reported on it at all, even though two weeks have passed since the race was over. The two recognized media specializing in trail running are as follows.
Both of these media specializing in trail running started their operations around 2008-2009, when trail running was first gaining recognition in Japan. I am also an old timer who started trail running around this time. DogsorCaravan provides information on domestic and international trail running races, results, and reviews of products provided by sponsors (so-called "deals"). TrailRunner.JP is more of a gear review site than a race information site, and it focuses on products that trail runners are interested in, such as shoes, trail sacks, and supplements.
In terms of scale, DogsorCaravan is the largest in Japan in terms of the number of articles and the breadth of categories. In particular, it has strong connections with event officials and elite runners, and its videos of conversations with elite runners in particular are killer content that other sites cannot offer.
Why no mention of the Kaga Spa management issue ...
I myself am in the position of wanting to know what other media outlets think about this issue. As a long-established media outlet in Japan's trail running industry, I am aware of the fact that the highly anticipated first by UTMB in Japan was heavily criticized, especially by foreign runners.
I, as a Japanese, am concerned that the reputation of Japanese trail races will be damaged by the Kaga Spa management issue, no matter how much it was run by OSJ. Also, from an economic point of view, it is precisely when there is a hot topic (flames) due to management problems such as this one that you can increase the number of accesses and views by posting articles and videos. I think there is motivation to give articles and videos.
DogsorCaravan only publishes results of elite runners
As of today, only the results of the Kaga Spa by UTMB are posted on DogsorCaravan. This is a common practice on DogsorCaravan, especially for larger events, where results such as standings and times are posted.
However, for the Kaga Spa by UTMB, the first by UTMB race in Japan, information was posted many times even before the race was held. In particular, there was even a video of a conversation with Mr. Takigawa, the representative of OSJ, and the amount of effort they put into the race was amazing (I also watched this video at the time).
In this video, a viewer asked about the quality of the aids, which was an issue this time, and Mr. Takigawa responded, "The quality will definitely change two to three times!" The result is as you all know.
And neither Dogsorcaravan nor Trailrunner.jp made any mention of the problems with the management of Kaga Spa this time. Also, they did not report the rather positive news that the DNFs will be invited to either the Kaga Spa next year or the Malaysia Ultra-Trail by UTMB to be held in September this year for free. It is unfortunate that they are not reporting on any of this, as if they are touching a tumor.
Powersports is a valuable customer (sponsor) for DogsorCaravan
The main source of income for the media, not just DogsorCaravan, is advertising. We do not intend to deny this at all, and in fact, we believe that it helps to revitalize that market.
However, I believe that one of the reasons why we could not actively point out the management problems and present suggestions for improvement as a media outlet is because of this kind of structure. For example, the following article.
Challenger Power Liquid is a product developed by Powersports. All of these articles are labeled "Sponsored," which means that they are in the form of advertisements paid for and promoted by Powersports.
In other words, they are structured as customers for DogsorCaravan. Therefore, it is difficult or impossible to do anything that would be disadvantageous to OSJ or Kaga Spa by UTMB, which are their customers.
Powersports and DogsorCaravan should put up a dialogue video regarding this management issue.
I think it boils down to this: for runners who know the OSJ era, this may be an everyday occurrence, but I think there were many people who ran OSJ-run races for the first time this time due to the by UTMB-ization.
I have the impression that there were not many people who wanted to participate in next year's race or the following year's race. As I wrote in my previous article, the fact that the OSJ did not meet any of the quality requirements of the UTMB itself is a broken promise to the runners, and the reputation of the OSJ is in ruins.
Also, from the point of view of overseas runners, the race would have left nothing but a terrible impression. Especially since many participants from overseas have run races in various countries, they would simply compare Kaga-Spa with races they have run before. As a result, I think they are largely responsible for ruining the reputation of trail running races in Japan.
First of all, I think they should give a video about this management issue and work to restore the trust of runners.
https://note.com/goasiatrail/n/nd2fbf83e95d1
P.S.
Looking at the official website of Kaga Spa by UTMB as of July 6, 2025, the message from the event director, Mr. Takigawa, has been deleted and is as follows I wonder if this was an email notification to the convention participants...
