hour 20
.
down to only 10 unscathed teams
at most…
.
australia and sweden are late checking in,
so it could be less.
.
portugal lost their number 2.
.
at this point 18 teams have lost 2 or fewer runners.
.
back in the small division
iceland had a tough hour 19.
still, they are 16 yards ahead of ukraine and switzerland,
also each with 12.
vietnam lost another and is down to 11
vietnam and malta (with only 8 remaining) are 2 yards behind ukraine/switzerland,
and only 1 yard ahead of finland,
now catching everyone with 13.
.
finland now has the most runners left
and is only 3 yards out of second.
.
if you think the scoring hasnt been crazy enough already,
just wait an hour and see what happens next.
.
so here is another bit of interesting data to chew on.
of the seeds 7-165,
guess which one has the most runners remaining….
.
you guessed it.
15.
if you dont think this game is mental,
then this might not make sense.
but those 15’s came in with a chip on their shoulders.
they had something to prove.
.
the least missing seeds are in the number one slot.
only venezuela, singapore, and the UK are missing their number 1 seed.
in the case of the UK,
their man arrived at the competition sick.
he probably should not have come,
but he could not let his team mates down.
.
the small team competition still has a long, long way to go.
i will be surprised if we know the winner before tomorrow night.
.
and by then the scoring in the large division will be heating up.
.
expect a wild and wooly competition
and dont be surprised if we dont find out the winner until wednesday!.