【10月12日】アメリカで「競わない」スポーツ大会がトレンド

Sports Day and the Power of Keeping It Up

October 12 is Sports Day, a national holiday in Japan. Host Yukiko Takemura (竹村ゆきこ) opened the episode by describing a long-distance ocean swimming event where participants aged 80 and older were covering several kilometers, and recounting a hiking trip where she was overtaken by older trailmates. "They're fit because they spent their youth swimming in the sea and climbing mountains with friends—back when smartphones didn't exist," she reflected, before turning the question on herself: is her own generation staying just as physically active?

A Noticeable Shift Away from Competitive Sports in the US

Data from the Sports & Fitness Association of America shows that participation in competitive sports—where winning and losing are the point—has been declining steadily, with the drop-off among young people particularly pronounced. At the high school level, more clubs are disbanding because they can no longer attract enough members.

The underlying driver is a wellness-centered worldview. Competing seriously demands grueling training, and intense pressure can take a severe mental toll. Young people who want to protect both their physical and mental health are increasingly stepping back from competition itself.

The Boom in Entertainment-Style Sports Events

That does not mean young people have given up on sport. Events that place experience above winning or losing are multiplying rapidly.

One standout example is the **Color Run**, in which participants run a course while being drenched from head to toe in vivid colored powder. Finishing time and placement are irrelevant—the experience is the only metric. Another fast-growing format is **no-time-limit cycling races** that wind through picturesque settings such as wine-grape vineyards. Gen Z is flocking to these races, which typically end with locally produced wine and craft beer, live music, and campfires—a full festival atmosphere. Participants cite the ability to "move with friends and get great social media content at the same time" as a major draw.

What Oklahoma's Mud Race Is Really Asking

Perhaps the most distinctive example is a bicycle race held in Oklahoma. When rain falls, the course's red-clay dirt turns into mud as thick and clinging as peanut butter, making it genuinely difficult just to finish. Rather than racing for rank, participants are tested on an entirely different question: how do you push through, and how much do you help each other along the way?

"Why would anyone choose to get that muddy?" might be a reasonable reaction. But Takemura argued that in an age when AI can predict a wide range of outcomes, slogging through a completely unpredictable, peanut-butter-mud course while relying on fellow participants is, in its own way, a profoundly human and even luxurious experience. It is precisely that combination of connection and shared story, she said, that makes the race hugely popular with younger participants.

Japan vs. the US, and a Larger Analog Revival

Japan is not without its food-themed marathon events, but Takemura pointed out that they tend to lean toward regional promotion and town revitalization rather than being driven by young people setting new trends. The situation is meaningfully different from the US, where Gen Z is actively inventing new formats.

Takemura also drew a connection to a trend she covered in an earlier episode: American "slow travel" (スロートラベル)—journeys deliberately detached from technology in favor of analog time. In her reading, there is a common thread running through both. In an era when AI and digital tools permeate every corner of daily life, people—especially young people—are being pulled back toward physical activity with friends and other forms of digital detox. The 80-plus swimmers she described at the top of the episode spent their youth in a world without smartphones; today's young people seem, almost instinctively, to be rediscovering what that felt like.