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132 hours 22h00 Friday 5th April 2008
Friday 4th April. 20h00 Race Hour 130
The 6 days of this event start off slowly but always end at speed. s more reach the 403km (250 mile) mark, there have been some emotional scenes at the lapcounting station. It’s a huge achievement to complete this event. Marthie Brits has cut holes in her shoes and is managing 3-4 km to the hour with 14km to go. Graeme feels that he has seriously damaged feet including some epic blood blisters. Yvette is busy with a major catchup and has reached within 25km of the goalsposts. Maurice sits on 397km at this hour (22:36) and is making a last effort. He has no choice but to finish as he is raising funds for his church organisation (Christian Church Community). |
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The time is flying as we approach 144 hours. Many of those who have reached the 403km targe have retired to have a well deserved sleep and foot spa. Several others have now taken the opportunity, as the midnight hour approaches, to leapfrog up the scoreboard while the opposition sleeps. When the cat is away , the mice come out to play.
Vlastimil is chasing Jesper so nobody is sleeping very much unless they declare a truce. |
115 hours 05h00 Friday 5th April 2008
Friday 4th April. 05h00 Race Hour 115
Fun and games. Faithful printer of 15 years developed a glitch at 03:30 and has temporarily retired from the race.Writing printouts by hand.
Fortunately, website typist has had another 2 hours sleep and is no longer falling asleep over the keyboard every 30 seconds. Chanleigh is flying like a bird and seems likely to prove that the profile prediction of making the distance on the 6th day is going to come true…….a day early.
Oddest thing, since the cloudburst yesterday, the mud-on-the-shoe pickup factor seems to have reduced considerably. There is a determination of every competitor to reach the 403km goal.
Apologies for the in between results not being acccessible – they are now!
94 hours 08h00 Thursday 4th April 2008
Thursday 4th April. 06h30 Race Hour 92
We are now connected courtesy of a Vodafone 3G adaptor on intermittent loan from Linda Engelbrecht. Although we are eternally grateful, we won’t be awarding any extra laps (in case anybody thinks this could be a bribe!)
This is the sort of thing that makes this 6 Day race a little more special than amy others – the people.
George has made the difficult decision to relax his approach on grounds of health. With any luck, he’ll be able to fit in some running training for 2009. The top three, Bongani , Jesper and Vlastimil are swopping places on a rotating basis.
Sarah is first lady through the minimum 403km at 6:06am. The KZN walking pair of Linda and Sharon are inseparable, having walked every lap together and reached the 300km mark together. Barbara looks as fresh as a daisy with feet which just feather the ground.
Andy McKissock, who took months of persuading to take part in the event, is is on track . Graeme has come back strongly and is walking consistently using his “walking” shoes (sandals!)
Marthie has performed serious reconstruction on her shoes to accomodate the blisters. She is determined to wear the 6 Day jacket come hell, high water or mud!.
Something that wasn’t anticipated during the track-testing in the months preceding the race was the combined effect of the dewfall and the pitter-patter of 27 pairs of running shoes on the newly formed track. The dew makes the upper surface of areas of the worn-away grass quite muddy. This particular mud is magnetically attracted to the soles of the shoes on every lap during the night hours.
Each of the runners have their preferred point on the paved section to perform the mud-cleansing/scraping operation on their shoes. The combination of using time for this together with the added weight seems to be pulling the laps down a bit. The competitors are nevertheless fighting on, determined to reach the end.
Jesper Olsen and Glen Turner’s World Run Project
Planet Ultramarathon 
Posted on April 3, 2008 by planetultramarathon