SASUKE 25

Intro

The 25th competition, official name: SASUKE2010春 (literally SASUKE2010 Spring) is the first tournament after Urushihara Yuuji's kanzenseiha. Like the other two competitions following a Final Stage completion (SASUKE 5 and SASUKE 18), the course was altered to increase the difficulty significantly.

SASUKE 25 was recorded February 20, 2010 and aired March 28, 2010 on TBS, with the running time was 4 hours. Competitors from every prefecture in Japan and most major world geographic regions were represented in this tournament.

Start positions #1 to #97 were drawn at random using a lottery, resulting in veterans Takeda Toshihiro (#70), Levi Meeuwenberg (#39), and Satō Jun (#18) received their lowest start positions ever. The final three start positions were reserved for the three former champions (Akiyama Kazuhiko was given #98, Nagano Makoto wore #99, and reigning champion Urushihara Yuuji was granted the coveted #100).

The First Stage was peppered with obstacles coming out of retirement and brand new ones. The time limit was decreased by five seconds from the previous tournament, and the red carpets from the Shin-SASUKE era were removed in favor of the old green color of the early SASUKE tournaments. With the removal of the Jumping Spider, this marked the first (and currently only) SASUKE tournament in which a spider-walking obstacle was absent. Of the new obstacles, the Dome Steps took out competitors at a similar rate as its predecessors, but very few had problems with the Bridge Jump. The three returning obstacles for this tournament were the Rolling Maruta, Jump Hang, and Circle Slider (however, all of these obstacles were eventually retired once again in the next tournament). A total of 11 competitors cleared, including two SASUKE All-Stars (Takeda Toshihiro and Yamamoto Shingo), former SASUKE Trials competitors (Satō Jun, Hashimoto Kōji, Kanno Hitoshi, and Urushihara Yuuji), international competitors (Lee En-Chih, Levi Meeuwenberg and Brian Orosco), and SASUKE veterans (Takahashi Kenji and Okuyama Yoshiyuki). Also, among the 11 competitors who cleared the First Stage in this tournament, 5 of them were finalists from the previous tournament (Hashimoto Kōji, Urushihara Yuuji, Takahashi Kenji, Lee En-Chih, and Okuyama Yoshiyuki).

The Second Stage, although remaining largely unmodified, began with two new obstacles (the Slider Drop and a Salmon Ladder variant, the Double Salmon Ladder). In the second half of the stage, the ending rope of the Balance Tank was severely shortened and the track was slightly longer than in SASUKE 24. Together, these new obstacles eliminated Urushihara Yuuji, Takeda Toshihiro, Satō Jun, Levi Meeuwenberg, Kanno Hitoshi, and Yamamoto Shingo, all of whom had reached the Third Stage multiple times in the past. Ultimately, five competitors cleared the stage, including Brian Orosco, who did so with a mere 1.4 seconds left. Orosco had never cleared the Second Stage before, while the other four competitors who cleared the Second Stage in this tournament had reached the Final Stage in the previous tournament.

The biggest renovation came in the Third Stage, with all obstacles making their respective SASUKE debuts, with the number of obstacles was reduced from 8 to 7. Large curtains covered the obstacles until the Third Stage was to commence. Orosco failed at the second obstacle, the Doorknob Grasper, while everyone else failed at the new version of the Cliffhanger (as the Ultimate Cliffhanger).

First Stage

Obstacles

① ^Dome Steps ドームステップス

② Rolling Maruta ローリング丸太

③ Jump Hang ジャンプハング

④ ^Bridge Jump ブリッジジャンプ

⑤ Log Grip ロッググリップ

⑥ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

⑦ *Circle Slider サークルスライダー

⑧ Tarzan Rope ターザンロープ

⑨ Rope Ladder ロープラダー

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Time Limit: 115 seconds

Length: 130 m

Results

Second Stage

Obstacles

① ^Slider Drop スライダードロップ

② ^Double Salmon Ladder ダブルサーモンラダー

③ Unstable Bridge アンステーブルブリッジ

④ *Balance Tank バランスタンク

⑤ Metal Spin メタルスピン

⑥ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 95 seconds

Results

Third Stage

Obstacles

① ^Roulette Cylinder ルーレットシリンダー

② ^Doorknob Grasper ドアノブグラスパー

③ ^Floating Boards フローティングボード

④ ^Ultimate Cliffhanger アルティメットクリフハンガー

⑤ ^Swing Circle スイングサークル

⑥ ^Bungee Rope Climb バンジーロープ クライム

⑦ ^Flying Bar フライングバー

Results

External Links