Hot Wind

27th Stage - Nundroo - Penong 78.9 km, 1st Feb 2001

The hot opposite wind surprised runners and tested their abilities. The wind was too strong even for attendants that escort runners in cars.

Strong wind caused a lot of work for farmers in Penong, the city, where today’s stage finished. "The wind knocked down the fence we have set six months ago. There was no such strong wind for a whole year," said inhabitants.

"I can’t go anywhere, the wind blocks me," said Brian Smith at the 50th kilometre, when he stopped for drink. The temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius and everyone had troubles running. Molnar recognised he should heal the injury of his left foot gradually and because of that he was running slowly at today’s stage. This is very hard for him since he was one of the best three runners at the beginning of the competition. The body simply couldn’t handle the effort. Because of that he decided just to come to the finish, regardless to result. "This is the hardest competition and I don’t even know, when I got hurt. Maybe it’s shoes, maybe I didn’t eat enough, I could find a million reasons," said Molnar in the finish of the stage. "I have to run slow for a week more and after that I hope I could run normally," he added. Yesterday George Audly hurt himself, too. The injury seems to be more serious than he thought at first. Despite the massage he lagged behind.

Lithuanian Jermolajevs cursed today’s strong wind. He completely lost his strengths and came to the finish far after others.

Kruglikov proved his predominance again. Derxen came to the finish as the second. Sakurai over powered Mravlje in last 15 kilometres and is still the third in overall results. "The wind was too strong for me and the heat was unbearable. Sakurai handles such conditions easily and he is smaller and thinner than me. After he caught me I left him to go ahead. There is no point in loosing strengths for a few minutes," said Mravlje. He came into better mood after he drunk a glass of beer.

Results

1. Anatoliy Kruglikov, Russia 6.14.23
2. Andrei Derxen, Russia 6.29.02
3. Kaname Sakurai, Japan 6.58.49
4. Dusan Mravlje, Slovenia 7.04.12
5.Wolfgang Schwerk , Germany 7.08.33
6. Mick Francis, Australia 7.23.01
7. Bobby Brown, Great Britain 8.21.15
7. Brian Smith, Australia 8.21.15
9. Paul Every, Australia 9.31.41
10. Stefan Schlett, Germany 10.07.34
11. Mihaly Molnar, Hungary 10.21.50
12. Markus Muller, Germany 10.27.52
13. Helmut Schieke, Germany 11.23.12
13. Karl-Heinz Kobus, Germany 11.23.12
15. Georga Audley, Australia 11.39.09
16. Georgs Jermolajevs, Latvia 13.22.59

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