hour 10
.
now the intact small teams are 5.
vietnam lost their number 14 runner.
still tied at 135,
so it was another casualty of that enormous climb between the chair and the starting corral…
.
that is the hardest part of every course.
.
in the large division there was stunning news,
as john stocker,
one of a handful of 80 yard runners in the world
(and onetime world record holder)
was forced to retire after 8.
.
in the backyard no one is safe.
.
back in the small division we are now eying the teams with multiple casualties.
mauritius and malaysia woud take a miracle to get back in,
with only 8 runners each.
venezuela is in trouble with only 11.
.
everyone else is still very much in the hunt.
sooner or later every team will be a man down,
and now the higher seeds of those teams with early losses
just have to pick up the slack…
.
but that is what you do on a team.
.
i am sure this is what the UK contingent is thinking.
seeing what happened to john
will only steel their will.