Ah, yes, it’s good to see the first race of its kind in approximately 66 million years.

On April 16, about 100 apex predators of all sizes descended upon Daisen, Tottori Prefecture, for the first-of-its-kind event in all of Japan: the Dinosaur Race. If you thought that the annual running of the otaku was as surreal as it gets, just wait until you see the footage below.

▼ A news report showing segments of the day

Hopefully this won’t be too much of a letdown, but no, T. rex hasn’t actually made a comeback from extinction (but that’s probably for the best). Instead, the Dinosaur Race featured a whole gaggle of humans wearing inflatable suits that paid homage to the King of the Tyrant Lizards. The race sponsor, who was the manager of a local glamping facility, expressed his hope that the race would be a great way for people to let out some stress and have a decent laugh during the pandemic.

The competition was preceded by a comical round of dino warm-up radio calisthenics, which we imagine must have been quite difficult for the participants due to T-rex’s short arms. They still made it look fairly graceful.

Adults then took to the stage for a 70-meter (76.6-yard) upward-sloping sprint. Juveniles participated in their own race afterwards. Many of the dinos were also decked out in fun accessories or even balloons.

Here are a couple views of the race:

https://twitter.com/HelloTomato23/status/1515210595431116801

Videos of the race soon went viral on the Japanese Internet, with a variety of tickled net reactions:

“I hope this kind of thing spreads to the whole country.”
“The footage of them warming up is hysterical!”
“I wonder what you would think if you had been drinking and stumbled upon this happening.”
“Even I can’t explain why I’m so excited to see this kind of thing.”
“Way to go, Tottori! This was the first time I laughed that hard in a while.”

The success of the Dinosaur Race certainly has us hoping we’ll see similar events pop up around the country. Heck, maybe we’ll even see a T. rex join the Freezas cheering at the Hakone Marathon one of these years.

Source: FNN Prime Online
Top image: Pakutaso
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