big dog’s backyard ultra heading for 40 hours:
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how fast has the backyard grown?
in 2021 a 40 hour backyard would punch your ticket to the world individual championships.
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tonight (today, this morning, etc) 221 athletes just started their 40th yard.
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so lets see what has been happening in the competitive side of things.
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netherlands and iceland continue their slow motion game of pursuit.
iceland is about 14 yards down.
and they once again have the same number of runners at 6.
each team still has 6 of their top 7 seeds.
they are all experienced and tough.
this race is nowhere near over.
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norway has recaptured the third placement.
they still have three runners going.
portugal and slovakia are right on their heels with only 2 athletes apiece,
with two participants those nations can afford no further drops if they want to grab that third place.
when a race gets down to a single runner,
it can only go to the next completed yard.
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you would think norway had it for good this time,
but this is the backyard.
norway could lose two
and their race would be over!
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in the large division there was a major shakeup.
new zealand lost a man,
and now belgium becomes the first to claim sole possession of the lead.
belgium 585 with15 ateletas
new zealand (-1) with 14
USA (-9) with 14
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i could go a lot deeper before i ran through all the contenders
but these are the teams dominating in the early going.
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one thing we have noticed this year
is an unusual number of teams going for hours when it gets down to the last two.
just looking right now i count 10 countries with two guys racing.
it was puzzling until we realized what it was….
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the winners are getting gold tickets to the individual championships.
the general opinion is that an at large berth will require something in the 70s.
