The fast-growing winter discipline of running at altitude on snow, will hold the first ever SkySnow Asia-Pacific Championships in Japan on April 5-6, 2025.
Born in Europe in 2022, SKYSNOW already counts two World Championships plus a European Championships recently announced for 2025. Adding to the global reach of this new discipline, Japan will now lead the way in Asia Pacific.
Twenty-one medals are at stake across the VERTICAL and CLASSIC disciplines, the Combined title, and the country ranking.
The events kick off on Friday, April 5 at the Tsumagoi SkySnow Vertical over a 3.5 km-long course with 610m vertical climb reaching 2,080m altitude.
The CLASSIC will take place on Saturday, April 6 at the Tsumagoi SkySnow, a 10 km-long loop and 850m vertical climb summitting at 2,110m. As in all SKYSNOW races, for safety and speed, athletes wear micro crampons to grip the snow.
The merge between Oceania and Asia for the championships was only recently approved by the International Skyrunnning Federation to give an opportunity to athletes from Australia and New Zealand to compete with the best Asian athletes.
Teams from Asia Pacific will include Mongolia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Philippines. For many of these countries SKYSNOW will represent an exciting novelty apart from Mongolia, where, thanks to its cold climate, the discipline is already active.
Japan is a major player at an international level, placing high on the ranking in many Skyrunning Championships. Now, it is ready to bring the spotlight for this winter discipline to Tsumagoi, Nagano Province, home of the Japan Skyrunning Association President and former top skyrunner, Dai Matsumoto.
“I’m honoured to be able to hold the first SkySnow Asia Pacific Championships in the mountains of my hometown where I was born and raised, commented Matsumoto.
“It represents a historic event as Asia’s first SkySnow race since 2021. We hope that athletes from other countries will also come to the mountains of Tsumagoi where many Japanese skyrunners train.
“The event will also serve as the Japan Championships and as a qualifier for the 2026 World Championships, so we look forward to seeing many talented Japanese skyrunners on the start line!”
The location, about two and a half hours by car from Tokyo, is set in a scenic village at 2,000m altitude, surrounded by volcanoes and hot springs, famed for its cabbage production in the summer, when the Tsumagoi Skyrun, is also held.
The races carry the ISF Course Certification Label, the stamp of approval certifying that they conform to skyrunning parameters. All athletes are automatically included in the ISF Ranking, while the medallists will qualify for the SkyMasters, the final of the 2025 Skyrunner® World Series.
