big dog’s backyard ultra hour 41:
.
straight into the competitive stuff.
in the midsize the netherlands-iceland duel continues to tighten.
iceland once again has a man advantage;
5-4
and they have cut the deficit to 12 yards.
it looked like this one was over 6 hours ago,
but those pesky icelanders just wont go away!
.
in the battle for third norway has opened up a 2 yard advantage,
and slovakia is out.
but portugal is still right there in the thick of it.
.
in the large countries belgium amazingly still sports an intact roster.
they are leadng with 600 yards.
new zealand (-2) is only one man down.
and they are now the only country with only one man down,
as the usa (-11) lost a second runner and now has 13.
right behind the usa is australia (-17) also with 13
and anxious to get back in contention.
.
you just cant get discouraged by getting down in the backyard team championships,
because comebacks are common.
maybe the rule.
.
spain (-21) is right behind australia and has 12 athletes still standing.
and i think it is worth mentioning japan (-49),
even tho they are back in 11th place,
and have a seemingly huge deficit.
they do still have 12 runners active.
and they have been moving up through the field quickly.
.
in 2022 japan was in a similar position,
and made a tremendous late race charge.
they ended up in 4th place overall,
but not before causing some serious concerns for the third place team.
and they did it a lot later in the game than we are right now.
.
it might sound crazy,
but this race is not halfway yet.
any team with a lot of runners still on the field is in the race.
