Vasque International and US Athletes Collect Podium Finishes at the S

Vasque Athletes from the US and Japan raced at the Shinetsu 5 Mountain Trail Race in Japan this past weekend with top notch results. US Team member Krissy Moehl finished first in the women’s division and fourteenth overall with a time of 13:31:09 followed by Japan Team member Hitomi Ogawa coming in second at 14:08:00. Another team member, Kenichi Yamamoto, won second overall in 11:35:41 followed by his teammate Chiharu Watanabe in fifth with a final time of 12:38:55.

This is the second year the Shinetsu 5 Mountain Trail Race has been held. It is the first 110km trail race to ever be put on in Japan. The race takes place in the Shinetsu Wilderness area on the Shinetsu Plateau where it goes over five mountains with a total elevation gain of 13,000’ in 70 miles. They had a great turnout this year with 542 racers toeing the start line that morning and 384 finishers.

“This race was an amazing experience,” said Moehl, “The warm, humid conditions and huge elevation gain definitely made the race a challenge.”

Moehl and Yamamoto ran in Vasque Mindbenders, Ogawa ran in the Vasque Transistor FS and Watanabe wore the Vasque Celerator for this race.

About Vasque

Vasque footwear, a family-owned company rich in heritage and deeply rooted in the outdoor community, understands the outdoors is a state of mind and specializes in creating trail ready footwear for trail ready lives. For more than 45 years, their focus has been thoughtfully designed and carefully built performance footwear to take the next generation of trail users wherever the trail goes. Vasque focuses on fit and world-class performance as the core pillars in every backpacking, hiking, trail running, multisport, and kids shoe they produce. Vasque’s authentic footwear withstands harsh conditions, rugged wear and the tests of time. www.vasque.com