A New Model of Health Management for Dispersed Companies: What is the 'Cross-Border' Relay Marathon Initiative Realized by a Joint Tokyo x Niigata Team?
OM Network Co., Ltd. formed a joint relay marathon team with employees from its Tokyo and Niigata offices to tackle lack of exercise and improve cross-branch communication. The successful initiative boosted health awareness and internal engagement.
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- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 18:30
- 🔍 Collected: April 24, 2026 at 10:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 10:22 (20 min after Collected)
Fostering employee communication and health awareness is a major challenge for companies with dispersed bases.
OM Network Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Niigata City) addressed this challenge by forming a "joint relay marathon team" across both its Tokyo and Niigata bases. They implemented a new model as a health management measure that transcends physical distance.
In this initiative, in addition to promoting exercise habits, the secondary effect of revitalizing communication between bases was also confirmed, drawing attention as a concrete example of health management in a dispersed organization.
Event: https://megalos.co.jp/contents/event/runfes.html
Aiming to share "health awareness" across branches
Lack of exercise due to desk-work-centric tasks had become a company-wide issue. Last year, when volunteers from the Tokyo headquarters participated in a relay marathon, they felt the positive response of improving health awareness as an organization, not just as individuals.
Therefore, this year, to make it a more "company-wide" initiative, we also called on employees from the Niigata headquarters to participate.
By passing a single sash, members from both branches, who rarely have the chance to meet face-to-face, aimed to simultaneously increase their awareness of health management and internal exchange.
Individual preparations and the overlapping "voices of support" on the day
Leading up to the tournament, members in both Tokyo and Niigata worked hard on their independent practice. On the day of the event, a grueling relay of taking turns running 1.6km laps started, even with members who rarely get to talk to each other. Especially when the first runner and the anchor headed for the goal, everyone gathered alongside the course. The passionate cheers of "Do your best!" pushed their tired legs forward. More than the ranking, the process of aiming for the goal united as a team quickly closed the distance between the two branches.
Changes born among Niigata and Tokyo members
[Voices of participating employees]
"By aiming for a single goal despite being in different locations, Tokyo and Niigata, we were able to share a deeper sense of accomplishment than in our usual work."
"I felt a powered-up teamwork compared to last year, and although it was tough, it was really fun."
"My health awareness increased by participating this time. I want to build an exercise habit from now on."
In addition, positive reactions were received from members who could not participate in the company, such as "Next year, I want to participate from Niigata too" and "I want to mix with the Tokyo team," which triggered an interest in health company-wide.
Expanding the circle of the sash to create an environment where all employees can work healthily
What the sash connected was not just the distance of 38km, but the "bonds" between employees and their "awareness of health." Using the success of this "Joint Headquarters Team" as encouragement, we are planning to participate with an even larger number of people next year. Furthermore, we will proceed with considering systems to support daily exercise and holding walking events, not just marathons, to promote the creation of an environment where all employees can work healthily regardless of their location.
[Message to readers]
The trigger for health management and internal communication starts with a small "sash." Why not plan an event where you work on something together with members at distant branches? That one step will become a great power to make the company stronger and unite it as one.
[Company Profile]
Company Name: OM Network Co., Ltd.
Location: Chuo-ku, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
Representative Director: Shinya Yamagishi
Business Description: Business system development
Shift management system "R-Shift"
https://www.rshift.jp/
Attendance management system "R-Kintai"
https://www.rshift.jp/rkintai.php
Corporate Website: https://www.omnetwork.co.jp/
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OM Network Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Niigata City) addressed this challenge by forming a "joint relay marathon team" across both its Tokyo and Niigata bases. They implemented a new model as a health management measure that transcends physical distance.
In this initiative, in addition to promoting exercise habits, the secondary effect of revitalizing communication between bases was also confirmed, drawing attention as a concrete example of health management in a dispersed organization.
Event: https://megalos.co.jp/contents/event/runfes.html
Aiming to share "health awareness" across branches
Lack of exercise due to desk-work-centric tasks had become a company-wide issue. Last year, when volunteers from the Tokyo headquarters participated in a relay marathon, they felt the positive response of improving health awareness as an organization, not just as individuals.
Therefore, this year, to make it a more "company-wide" initiative, we also called on employees from the Niigata headquarters to participate.
By passing a single sash, members from both branches, who rarely have the chance to meet face-to-face, aimed to simultaneously increase their awareness of health management and internal exchange.
Individual preparations and the overlapping "voices of support" on the day
Leading up to the tournament, members in both Tokyo and Niigata worked hard on their independent practice. On the day of the event, a grueling relay of taking turns running 1.6km laps started, even with members who rarely get to talk to each other. Especially when the first runner and the anchor headed for the goal, everyone gathered alongside the course. The passionate cheers of "Do your best!" pushed their tired legs forward. More than the ranking, the process of aiming for the goal united as a team quickly closed the distance between the two branches.
Changes born among Niigata and Tokyo members
[Voices of participating employees]
"By aiming for a single goal despite being in different locations, Tokyo and Niigata, we were able to share a deeper sense of accomplishment than in our usual work."
"I felt a powered-up teamwork compared to last year, and although it was tough, it was really fun."
"My health awareness increased by participating this time. I want to build an exercise habit from now on."
In addition, positive reactions were received from members who could not participate in the company, such as "Next year, I want to participate from Niigata too" and "I want to mix with the Tokyo team," which triggered an interest in health company-wide.
Expanding the circle of the sash to create an environment where all employees can work healthily
What the sash connected was not just the distance of 38km, but the "bonds" between employees and their "awareness of health." Using the success of this "Joint Headquarters Team" as encouragement, we are planning to participate with an even larger number of people next year. Furthermore, we will proceed with considering systems to support daily exercise and holding walking events, not just marathons, to promote the creation of an environment where all employees can work healthily regardless of their location.
[Message to readers]
The trigger for health management and internal communication starts with a small "sash." Why not plan an event where you work on something together with members at distant branches? That one step will become a great power to make the company stronger and unite it as one.
[Company Profile]
Company Name: OM Network Co., Ltd.
Location: Chuo-ku, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
Representative Director: Shinya Yamagishi
Business Description: Business system development
Shift management system "R-Shift"
https://www.rshift.jp/
Attendance management system "R-Kintai"
https://www.rshift.jp/rkintai.php
Corporate Website: https://www.omnetwork.co.jp/
Recommended articles from OM Network
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Shift management SaaS "R-Shift" exceeds 300 customization responses
Realizing early strategization of inexperienced engineers Developed an original training program using AI, introduced to the 2026 new employee training