Dirty Play a Requirement at Ariake Sea Tidal Flat’s ‘Olympics’

KASHIMA, Saga Prefecture--While dirty play is a no-no in American football and other traditional sports, in the annual Kashima Gatalympic event held here, such activity is encouraged. This year's event, the 34th annual edition, attracted about 1,500 participants from Japan and abroad who became covered in mud as they took part in seven events held on the tidal flat of the Ariake Sea on May 27. Events at Gatalympic--a combination of the words "gata," meaning lagoon, and "Olympics"--were designed so "athletes" would be plastered in mud no matter what they tried. One event involved paddling through the muddy tidal flat as participants laid face down on a narrow ski. Another required riders to go along a narrow board on bicycles with no brakes. An inability to navigate the bikes led riders and vehicles to fly into the muddy flat. Getting dirty does not faze some participants from coming back for more. One 48-year-old company employee from Fukutsu in neighboring Fukuoka Prefecture took part for the third time in the ski paddling event with his daughter. "I could not move forward as I wanted because my daughter put on weight," he said. A 23-year-old Vietnamese working in Kashima said the experience was a most memorable one because Vietnam does not have such tidal flats.