Clock watching of a different kind: White-collar workers race on office chairs down Japan streets
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The ISU-1 Grand Prix is an endurance race where participants compete to see how many laps they can complete on standard office chairs in two hours.
PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM ISU1GP/FACEBOOK
Some office workers in Japan swopped corporate wear for outfits of a more athletic nature – complete with helmets, gloves, and knee and elbow pads – as they gathered in a park for a unique race on March 29.
Seated on standard office chairs, they had congregated at the park in Kyotanabe, a city in Japan’s Kyoto prefecture, to take part in the ISU-1 Grand Prix. It is an endurance race where racers compete in teams of three to see how many laps they can complete on office chairs in the span of two hours.
“Isu” is the Japanese word for chair.
At the organiser’s signal, participants kicked off, propelling their chairs down the race course, zooming down streets and manoeuvring tight corners.
Mr Yasunori Miura, a participant, told CNN that winning teams usually cover about 20km to 25km, which means each member covers up to about 8km.
The grand prize was 90kg of rice, chosen because it is common to find in Japan and easy to share.
Founded in 2010 by Mr Tsuyoshi Tahara and first held in Kyotanabe, the yearly races are now held at more than 20 locations across Japan, including Tokyo, Hokkaido and Shizuoka.
Mr Tahara’s dream is to see it expand to Monaco, home of an iconic Formula 1 race, he told CNN.
Mr Miura, an office worker, told CNN he trains for the competition in his spare time, hitting the gym twice a week and practising with an office chair four times a week.
On March 16, he shared a video of one training session, in which he completed a 200m slalom run 40 times. He said each lap took him an average of 52.11 seconds, with a 49.52-second lap that session being his fastest.
He told CNN he prefers lighter chairs with a small backrest, while Mr Tahara likes chairs with adjustable seat heights, large wheels and shorter stems.
The races are open to non-office workers as well, and police officers, firefighters and members of Japan’s military have reportedly taken part. The Kyotanabe race on March 29 even had a secondary school division.
