big dog’s backyard hour 16 happening now:

we arent seeing quite as many smiles right now.
but the overall mood is good.
and i believe the strong team camaraderie that has developed is keeping everyone on an even keel.
there is a lot more stretching in the starting corral,
about the only visible sign
(other than fewer smiles)
that all of these runners have now gone more than 100 kilometers.

working together the individual ups and downs are smoothed out a great deal.
elite level backyarding is a completely different game.
it requires not just hours,
but days of effort just to reach the point where the real race begins.

all over the world
these teams of amazing athletes are lifting each other
to achieve more than is individually possible.
to the 21 teams still boasting a clean field,
with more than 100 kilometers in the bag,
this is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself.

guatemala did indeed take the lead this last hour at 208 yards.
and they have 13 athletes still going
compared to namibia (-2) nine.

barring a total collapse team guatemala is going to spring a stunning upset in the small countries division.
and they did it despite starting the race a man short!

quite an amazing showing by one of the newest members of the backyard family.

this should give renewed hope to their central american neighbors mexico,
who lost a man very early in the competition.
it only requires the other members of the team to pick up the slack!

egypt finished at 15 hours.

details on the winners and assists for each country are available on the national champions tab on the leaderboard.