The M2M Ekiden – FAQ
Dylan WykesThe Registration Process
- Team Registration — One person (the team captain) needs to purchase a relay team entry for the M2M Ekiden
- Confirmation Email — The team captain receives a registration confirmation email with details to download the Virtual Baton App
- Virtual Baton App — The team captain will receive another email with a unique code to activate your team in the Virtual Baton App
- Team Member Signup — The team captain shares the unique team code with their team members, or invites them to join the team through Virtual Baton App
Race Day
The race starts at 7:30 AM PDT / 10:30 AM EDT / 4:30 PM CET and the Virtual Baton App will alert everyone that the event has started.
- First Runner will Activate Baton
- Starts watch
- Rips 10.55km
- Uploads to Strava
- Refresh Current Leg on the Virtual Baton App
- Team Total will update adding the distance just pulled from Strava
- The First Runner can now Pass the Baton
- Second Runner receives the baton (wait until the app tells you it’s been passed to you)
- Start watch / Rip 10.55 KM / Upload to Strava / Refresh Current Leg on the Virtual Baton App / Team Total will update / Pass the Baton
- Third Runner receives the baton
- Start watch / Rip 10.55 KM / Upload to Strava / Refresh Current Leg on the Virtual Baton App / Team Total will update / Pass the Baton
- Fourth Runner receives the baton
- Check Team Total to know what distance is left (42.195 KM total)
- Start watch / Rip 10.55 KM (or whatever is left for the team) / Upload to Strava / Refresh Current Leg on the Virtual Baton App / Complete Race
- Celebrate with your team! ????
Virtual Baton App
More screen shots and details about how the Virtual Baton App works on the Run Guides site.
Race Rules
- Start time: 7:30 AM PDT / 10:30 AM EDT / 4:30 PM CET
- End time: 10hrs later – 5:30 PM PDT / 8:30 PM EDT / 2:30 AM CET
- No running done outside of the Start and End time for the event will be counted toward your leg of the Ekiden Relay
- The goal for each team must complete the marathon distance (42.195km), as as team, not individually!
- Maximum team size is 4. Minimum team size is 2. We are strongly encouraging teams of 4. The event leaderboard will be setup to display leaders at the 4 runner team increments (ie every 10.55km)
- Each runner on a team has a prescribed leg distance
- All leg distances should be equal
- ie for a 4 runner team, the distance is 10.55km
- Each runner must have the Virtual Baton App activated on their mobile device
- Each runner must have a Strava account & be able to upload post-race
- Each runner must use the virtual baton app to pass the baton to the next runner on their team
- One runner from each time runs at a time
- You must run in the order your team set in the app
- Due to weird stuff that sometimes happens with Strava clipping activities
- We recommend that every runner go ~1% further than their prescribed leg distance
- ie another 105metres
- It will be up to the anchor leg to make up the “clipped” distance from their teammates legs
- Your team’s total distance will be displayed in the Virtual Baton App for all to see.
- All runs uploaded to Strava by a team member during the time that they hold the virtual baton count towards your team distance total
- The Strava activity must start after the team member receives the virtual baton, and end before the team member passes the virtual baton
- Distance not recorded due to your watch dying/GPS errors (sadly) cannot be included/manually added on to your run
- It is the risk that we all must take!
- Manual uploads/treadmill runs count. These must include a picture of the treadmill screen uploaded to the run on Strava
- You only get one chance to run your leg of the Ekiden relay, make it count
Register Your Team
Register Your TeamMore Details
We set up this Facebook page so that people could communicate about teams.
No. Your team can be made up of runners located anywhere in the world! In fact we’re encouraging you to team up with runners spanning the globe, with our Globe Trotters Award.
Team members can use the Virtual Baton app to adjust their runner order anytime before the race begins.
Once the race has started you are unable to change the order that your team runs in.
You’ll need to find a replacement before the event starts.
Each team has a virtual baton that gets passed from one runner to the next using the Virtual Baton app. Any Strava activities created while someone has the virtual baton get added to your team total.
Team members sync their Strava accounts to the Virtual Baton app. When the race begins runner #1 starts with the virtual baton. They run, upload their run to Strava, then use the Virtual Baton app to pass the baton to runner #2. After they pass the baton any distance that they ran while they had the baton gets added to the team total.
Yes. Currently the virtual baton app only supports Strava so you will need a Strava account for your leg of the M2M Ekiden to count.
You will receive an app notification, and an email the moment that someone passes you the baton. These notifications can be turned off if you want.
That’s fine! You can hold onto the virtual baton for as long as you want. However, your team won’t gain any distance, and the next runner on your team can’t start their leg until you complete a run with the baton.
No. The only time you need your phone is when you are using the Virtual Baton app to pass the baton.
No. You’re only running your prescribed distance one time.
In order for a run to count for team distance your Strava activity must start after you receive the virtual baton and end beforeyou pass the virtual baton. If you are mid-run and receive the baton we suggest stopping your current run, and starting a new activity on Strava.
No. You will get the satisfaction of knowing that you’re getting fitter, but you need to have the baton to contribute distance to the team total.
Yes. When you first connect your Strava account to the virtual baton app it will ask for permission to view your private Strava activities. If you select this option then any activities that you make private will still count towards your team total.
The team with the lowest total time for the 42.195km, as displayed in the Virtual Baton App leaderboard/results, at the end of the event (6hrs) is declared the winner.
This is not a “first past the post” event. But time spent in transition, ie handoffs count towards your total time.
we strongly encourage all teams to start at the designated event start time.