Triumph Supports Employees Challenging the Sahara Marathon Osaka Office Manager Masaki pays a courtesy call to Neyagawa City to report on his successful completion of the race.

Triumph Corporation (Headquarters: Kamimaezu, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Japan) is strengthening its support for employee health promotion as part of its health management, and is implementing the "Sahara Project" to support employees challenging the Sahara Marathon.

Kengo Masaki, head of the Osaka office, who challenged the Sahara Marathon under this project, paid a courtesy visit to Mayor Keisuke Hirose of Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture, where he lives, on June 24, 2024, to report his completion of the "38th MDS THE LEGENDARY 2024.

Courtesy visit to the Mayor of Neyagawa City

About "The 38th MDS THE LEGENDARY 2024

The 38th MDS THE LEGENDARY 2024, known as "the world's toughest marathon," was held in the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco, North Africa, from April 12 (Friday) to 22 (Monday), 2024. The participants carry everything they need for food, clothing, and shelter on their backs, except water, through the desert, where temperatures can drop to 50°C during the day and 0°C at night.

The organizer is the Atlantide Organisation Internationale (AOI) of France. In the 38th edition, 842 participants completed the race, placing 141st overall and 3rd among Japanese.

■Comparison during the courtesy visit

During the meeting, Mr. Hirose talked about how he came to challenge the Sahara Marathon, his preparations and participation in domestic races over the past year, his feelings during the Sahara Marathon, and donated an hourglass made from sand from the Sahara that he had brought back.

Mayor Hirose also said, "I hope you will pass on the beauty of taking on challenges to the children of Neyagawa. Mayor Hirose also expressed his hope that the children of Neyagawa would learn the beauty of taking on new challenges, and he was kind enough to give a lecture at the event.

Courtesy talk with the Mayor of Neyagawa

Kengo Masaki's Challenge to the Sahara Marathon

The challenge of the Sahara Marathon is not only "running in the Sahara Desert," but also requires a certain level of financial strength, as it costs more than 1 million yen to prepare for the race, including the understanding of family members who will support the race for a long period of time, as well as participation and travel expenses, and equipment. In addition, the understanding of the workplace is also necessary, as the participants usually have to take at least two weeks off, including preparation time.

Masaki, who is the head of the Osaka office of Triumph Corporation, the company to which he belongs, and in charge of leading 30 subordinates, was fully prepared for the Sahara Marathon with the company's backup in terms of budget and personnel structure.

The company called it the "Sahara Project," and a video of Masaki's year-long challenge was recorded and posted on the company website. In addition, as part of its efforts to promote health management, the company created a "health promotion allowance" to create a supportive mood within the company and actively held events to promote health and internal exchanges.

Sahara Marathon Goal

Masaki says he feels that meeting fellow Japanese who are challenging the Sahara Marathon was also a very valuable experience in his life. The people who gathered there were all challengers who were willing to go beyond their limits. He said that he felt a great deal of empathy for their attitude and way of thinking, and that he was able to gain insights that would help him grow as a person.

The "Sahara Sand" he chose as a souvenir was bottled and distributed to his colleagues, family, and friends in Japan who supported him, and he donated one of the two hourglasses he made with the sand to Neyagawa City and the other to his company.

Sahara Marathon finisher's medal

Sahara Marathon group photo

■Kengo Masaki comments

The Sahara Marathon was of course a tough race, and I had some physical problems. However, in the races I have tackled in preparation, some of them I retired due to insufficient physical preparation, and some of them I almost gave up due to a broken heart. Since I gradually increased the distance, it can be said that each race has been a big challenge that I have repeatedly taken on, not knowing if I could achieve it as a step. That is why, when I was preparing for the Sahara Marathon, I thought to myself, "The limits I have set for myself are only the starting line. In the first place, limits are nothing more than assumptions." I was in a state of mind where I was looking forward to the challenge of the unknown and the challenge to the limit, including the anxiety. It is not that something changed after the Sahara Marathon, but that I had already changed when I overcame the challenges I had faced up to that point and faced the Sahara Marathon. That is to say, I had already changed. Above all, through the Sahara experience, I naturally became grateful for all the things I take for granted in my daily life, and my level of happiness increased greatly.

I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to share my experience with the children of Neyagawa City during this courtesy visit. I would like to share with the children the wonder of taking on challenges and what I have felt in the process.

I look forward to sharing my experience with the children in the Sahara Marathon.

■President & CEO of Triumph Corporation Masatsugu Hyuga comments

Congratulations on completing the Sahara Marathon, Mr. Masaki. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Osaka office who supported Mr. Masaki's work while he was away preparing for and participating in the race. I would also like to thank our business partners and all those who have expressed their support and interest in our company since the announcement of the Sahara Project.

During this courtesy visit, we were asked the question, "Why did you choose Mr. Masaki, who has been with the company for so short a time?" I would like to answer this question.

Our company does not have a seniority system, but rather a culture of evaluating those who are attached to the company and can deliver results, regardless of their length of service.

When I evaluate employees, I focus on engagement (attachment and feelings), commitment (ability to deliver results), and wellbeing (good social, physical, and mental state and goodness). We also want to be a company that appreciates "good people" who are enthusiastic, good and healthy. We believe that companies and communities where such people gather create a good environment.

Mr. Masaki has a very strong attachment to our company and his hometown Neyagawa, and he speaks very fondly of the people he has met through the Sahara Project. And Mr. Masaki is a person who can deliver results.

This project was a great success on many levels, including improving the company's image, spreading enthusiasm, promoting internal exchange and health, and fostering a spirit of challenge. Through Ms. Masaki's experience, the project will surely provide a good opportunity to give children in Neyagawa a great insight and the courage to challenge their goals. Neyagawa City is a vibrant municipality with many people of child-rearing age moving into the city. We hope that the next generation of children will play an active role like Ms. Masaki, and that the city will develop further.

■Websites

・Sahara Project: https://www.triumph.jp/social/

・Neyagawa City: https://www.city.neyagawa.osaka.jp/

■Company Profile

Company Name ： Triumph Corporation

Representative: Masatsugu Hyuga, President and Representative Director

Location: Daiichi Sumiken Kamimaezu Bldg. 6F, 2-14-15 Kamimaezu, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 460-0013, Japan

Establishment ： August 27, 2003

Business : Planning and operation of computer systems

Capital: 10,000,000 yen

URL : https://www.triumph.jp/