by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
and so we lose niklas sjoblom of sweden and angelika huemer-toff, the austrian champion. angelika had a splendid outing, improving her best performance by 18 yards from 44 to 52. still there were tears. it gets harder with each runner they have invested so much of...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
i told you there would be casualties. and not even the ones we expected. . every runner in the field is operating on a margin so thin that anything can take them down. the belgian brecht vandamme is gone. victim of the hills the uk’s john stocker is gone. victim...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
we are going to lose some today. of course we know there will be casualties on the trail. they are into their third day of running without a break but somehow it is different watching it in progress. . some of the runners are working hard to make the cutoffs they are...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
at last a number that looks impressive. willie david christopher from malaysia was unable to make the cutoff. the surviving 45 went on when the bell rang. now we are down to the ones who came to play. no one will be giving up easy. they arent going to hit a bad...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
only one runner stopped at 48. so obviously the other 46 have come to play. . the lone athlete to stop at 48 hours was niki micallef. niki earned his place at big’s as the maltese champion. but he stepped into the starting corral two days ago with the smallest...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
so all 47 started the 48th yard. no one was in any apparent trouble coming out of 47, so it seems likely they will all make it. . as exciting as it is to see this sort of a mass accomplishment what makes it sweetest is the performances of the women. . all 4 are still...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
the 47 all went out again. i am getting ever more excited about the number of people about to log a sub 48 hour time for 200 miles. . for most runners the time between midnight and dawn is the hardest to run. it takes a special mindset to maintain a steady performance...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
the 47 all cleared another yard. sunrise is less than three hours away. it will mark the beginning of the third day… . and a return to the feared trails! . not everyone fears the trails. team mexico cut their teeth on trails that could have big’s trail for...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
we got thru clean this time. 47 runners are now less than 4 hours from getting 200 miles in 48 hours. there has never been anything like that before. . i wish i could give a longer update but i want to try for my third 30 minute nap. . i know 3 thirty minute naps in...
by Naresh KN | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
we lost a couple more. jason bigonia from the us turned around and didnt finish 43. nederlander roman packbier quit after 43. both of them referenced a fear of returning to the trail. . meanwhile, this is the yard for thembi to break the south african record that he...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
sadly we saw daniele lissoni of italy drop this hour. it was not that he couldn’t go on right now, but rather the belief he could not do the first trail loop in the morning. this knocks us down to 49. . loop 43 is a cause for celebration for one of our runners;...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
a clean hour coming up to midnight. of course it is not midnight for most of the field, for the japanese team it is early afternoon for the aussies and new zealanders it is late afternoon for the western europeans it is daybreak. . maybe the clean hour is because it...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
keith vangraafieland returned from yard 40 and did not finish it. this left 50 athletes to reach 40 hours. just another number with nothing to compare it to… . we have retired 1/3 of the runners i wonder if that means we have covered 1/3 of the distance? . camp...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 23, 2023 | Race Reports
andres villagran of ecuador came in and rang the distance bell at the end yard 39. with two previous 38 hour backyards to his credit we figure he had been wanting to ring that bell for… . about 39 hours! then he retired to his tent and crawled in his sleeping...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
branislav pavic never arrived at the turnaround. rumours floated around camp that he was to be found sleeping in his tent… . and, indeed, that is where he was found. the number of surviving runners dropped to 52. . those 52 just keep on going. included in their...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
ritvars kalnins, the powerful latvian, missed the cutoff on 37. for him the end came quickly. canadian eric deshaies suffered a more lingering end, being another backyarder suffering from nausea. he returned after starting the 38th yard. switzerland’s nima...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
the first night loop passed smoothly and cleanly. no one seems to be remotely near in trouble altho we all know how quickly that can change; after all, the runners are over 150 miles now. . most depressing observation of the hour; “we are about 1/3 of the...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
once again the fall of darkness means firebuilding as well as a switch to the road. i am happy to report that the crews have a nice warm fire for the night… . all night. . the last stretch to the road was costly. kevin mccabe (USA) did not make the cutoff on 34....
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
holding steady at 60 runners with now only two hours to reach the road. you can smell the anticipation. the field contains some committed trail runners, but at some point this week becomes about saving your body… , there is also a little bit of the craving to...
by Lazarus Lake | Oct 22, 2023 | Race Reports
3 hours to the road, and all 60 runners got in and went out. in keeping with my race plan to survive for 120 hours i will take a second nap instead of make a longer update!
