Thank you, Helmut!

35th Stage - Iron Knob-Port Augusta 67.4 km - 12th Feb 2001

The competitors have left behind 2465 kilometers and have today reached Port Augusta, where they saw traffic lights after a long time. They have been running through deserted parts of Australia, ever since ninth stage and there was so little traffic there that they could have counted the number of vehicles that passed them in an hour on the fingers of one hand. George Audley was yet again the happiest runner: ''I'm glad that yesterday wasn't just a lucky day and that I ran well again today. A moment of carelessness led to a painful fall, which, apart from some blood, left no serious injuries.

Helmut Schieke, who is only four years younger then George, reached the finish line exactly an hour behind Audley. ''Thank you, Helmut! I must admit that I've learned a lot from you in the last three weeks running behind you. I want you to know that you've helped me a lot'', thanked the German George Audley. Dusan Mravlje was less satisfied, having fallen and schratching both of his arms and one knee. ''The last 15 kilometers we were running on an old road and I thought to myself that I would have to be careful. A few moments later I was already lying on that same road. Luckily I cought myself on my hands and I will have to run a bit slower tomorrow. It seems as if this fall was a sign from ''upstairs'', telling me to watch out.'' Not surprisingly, Anatoliy1 Kruglikov won the stage again today and ran even faster than yesterday. Andrei Derxen and Kaname Sakurai fought for second place again,but Andrei is firmly holding on to second position overall. It seems that the Japaneese! is ''throwing away'' enegry again, but his advantage over Dusan Mravlje in the overall standings is more than three hours. Mick Francis gained on Molnar again today and is now only 23 minutes behind him, but Molnar keeps running better and the battle for fifth place has not been decided yet.

Sunday afternoon in Port Augusta was very cheerful because the members of the local sports club threw a little party for the runners. ''This is the best spaghetti we have ever tasted, especially the carbonara.'' The runners were also impressed with the mayor's visit.

Results

1.Anatoliy Kruglikov, Russia 4.51.17
2.Andrei Derxen, Russia 5.15.15
3.Kaname Sakurai, Japan 5.15.46
4.Dusan Mravlje, Slovenia 5.33.32
5.Mick Francis, Australia 5.54.42
6.Wolfgang Schwerk, Germany 5.55.35
7.Mihaly Molnar, Hungary 6.00.45
8.Bobby Brown, Great Britain 6.34.14
9.Paul Every, Australia 6.44.48
10.Georga Audley, Australia 6.59.33
11.Georgs Jermolajevs, Latvia 7.09.12
12.Marcus Muller, Germany 7.14.04
13.Helmut Schieke, Germany 7.59.59
13.Karl-Heiz Kobus, Germany 7.59.59
15.Stefan Schlett, Germany 8.03.33

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