This is ridiculous: Get a gun - Saturday's Tango University Ekiden to be stopped if bears appear on course

Guns don’t kill people, bears do

Sounds bad...

"Takahiro Ikeda, an orchard operator, said bears have eaten more than 200 of his apples that were ready for harvest. “My heart is broken,” he told NHK television."

I live in the foothills, we have black bears everywhere. Seen several this summer at my favorite spot. They are like large dogs. Make noise Lee your distance. One ate all of the apples from my neighbors tree and napped in the yard.

These Japanese bears are not the same. They are a MASSIVE brown bear sun species like the Kodiak or Grizzly.

I understand the caution.

LOL! Americans complain if there are hills, tight turns, or muddy spots on a course.

there are hunters shooting them, only the army is restricted from that.

In any case, allowing the bears free reign could help answer some old questions from these boards, who would win if there is a bear in various circumstances.

Vast majority of the runners, and likely all the faster ones, would be unharmed by the bears. Just have them sign a waiver etc. Most would still line up and start.

What are the odds of a bear actually hurting someone? You just need to know how to deal with them.

Essentially, if a human can’t survive a bear encounter by outsmarting the bear, then you must question the human’s intelligence…more specifically, the human’s instinct, which is tied to their intelligence.

Sounds like an awesome law. I'm glad our guy got in because more bears voted than humans. Yay for democracy! Of course we'll need to do something about those pesky hunters. I know, how about a new law: no hunting within 25 km of ekiden sites. Don't want to accidentally shoot any runners.

Search "finnish man bear" or "bear attack in Sweden" on YouTube.