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Molnar's Revenge

The fight for overall fifth place between Hungary's Mihaly Molnar and Australia's Mick Francis is getting more and more interesting as days go by. Mihaly has managed to beat Francis by 12 minutes and 50 seconds today and has fought his way back into fifth position overall. While most of the runners have reconciled themselves with their positions, Mihaly and Mick are so close that either one's bad day could be decisive.

It's not only the time difference, but also the psychological advantage of the runner in better position, that matters in such long competitions.There is no doubt that Mihaly Molnar is a better runner that Mick Francis, but his injury is keeping him out of the fight for the podium positions. He even thought of resigning from the race, but the director of the race, Bernie Farmer, convinced him not to. Now he says he's not sorry, although he's not able to run as fast as he can. Mick is well aware of Molnar's injury and is trying to beat him before Mihaly fully recovers. "I can't run any faster and Mihaly is a very good runner, that's why it is going to be interesting in the coming days,"commented Mick.

One of the few who could improve on their positions is George Audley who is constantly gaining an hour or more time on the runners in the back positions, which motivates him even more and is giving him extra strength. Despite the chilly mourning and the rain that started to fall at the end of the stage, the best ones didn't allow any surprises.

Anatoliy Kruglikov has convincingly won the stage again. Derxen beat Mravlje only because of shorter "drink stops", Sakurai crossed the finish line at the Knappstein vineyard in Clare shoulder to shoulder with Molnar. "A few seconds or minutes don't mean anything in this competition and I don't understand how come the Japanese hasn't learned anything yet," said Dusan in the finish as he was sitting in his chair with a beer in his hand.

The organisers held a meeting in the afternoon, stressing the importance of traffic safety. Roads are becoming narrower and the density of the traffic is higher, that is why the competitors and their escorting crews are in more danger now. Bernie Farmer presented the rules and the fees for not following them, since time punishment has very little effect in this case. The police have warned the competitors as well as the organisers quite a few times to run closer to the edge of the road so that cars can avoid them easier. Such things can be very dangerous, even deadly, especially on curvy roads.

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