Office Chair Racing Competition

Office chair racing is an entertaining activity held in multiple countries, aiming to boost urban vitality and relieve stress for white-collar workers, among other purposes. It has various competition formats in Japan.

In Japan, office chair races come in a rich variety of forms. The first type is the office chair endurance race, which lasts for a total of two hours. In this race, participants need to sit on office chairs and sprint forward in circles. The key to the competition is not speed but endurance, seeing who can hold on longer. Participants have to constantly pedal the ground with their legs to provide forward momentum while keeping their hands steady to control the direction. Maintaining this posture for a long time puts significant pressure on the waist. The one who can last until the end has a better chance of winning the race.

The second type is the speed pursuit race held in Hasuda City, Saitama Prefecture, where each team sends three participants. The track is 200 meters per lap, and the team that completes the most laps within two hours wins. During the race, various situations occur frequently. Some less-skilled participants are prone to falling when turning corners. Some may damage the wheels of their office chairs due to excessive force, and others may fall backward from overexertion.

The third type is the race where participants sit on office chairs and move backward at high speed, also held in Hasuda City. This race consists of two rounds. First, 56 teams compete in the preliminary round, and the 28 winning teams from the preliminary round continue to vie for the "Chair Gold Award". Each team participating in the "Chair Gold Award" has three participants. They sit on office chairs, kick the ground with their feet, and move backward alternately for two hours. In the end, a team from Kyoto won the championship with a distance of 25 kilometers covered in two hours. The championship prize was 90 kilograms of locally produced rice from Yamagata Prefecture.