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Audley's Dream Came True

The oldest runner in the competition, George Audley, finally managed to beat the second last runner, Karlheinz Kobus, after 31 stages, and recieved a warm welcome when he crossed the finish line of today's stage. Fellow runners and organisers congratutalted him for his effort.

George was running in last place ever since The American Kawika Spoulding withdrew from the race, but started slowly to make time he lost in the two previous hot weeks. Throuhg Nullarbor he ran along with the German trio Kobus, Schlett and Schieke, aged 61, who is the second oldest runner in the competition. Kobus and Schlett thought of giving up, but Schieke managed to pull the "German Train" through.George's wounds slowly healed, and when he felt he was strong enough, he strted to run with a higher pace and began to make time on his German friends. Today he left behind last placed Schieke and Kobus by 38 minutes and said: "My first goal is achieved. I'm ready for my next one!" His next "victim" could be Stefan Schlett, whose advantage over "The Flying Fossil" before tomorrow's stage is only one hour and two minutes.

Mihaly Kruglikov won the 20th consecutive stage and it's becoming clear to everyone that none of the other 14 runners has the strength to overtake first place. Kaname Sakurai came up with another of his "kamikaze attacks" on second place, but Andrei Derxen was strong enough again and beat the Japanese by only a minute and 44 seconds. Dusan Mravlje and Mihaly Molnar finished the stage shoulder to shoulder. "If only I had Dusan's head and my legs," commented the Hungarian. He was thinking, offcourse, about Dusan's experiene. Mihaly's lack of experience made him chase Kruglikov in the early stages, which led to his injury. Mick Francis, or "The Australian Kangaroo" as it's written on his van, came in sixth place, sixteen minutes behind Mihaly, proving that he is not able to keep up with Molnar anymore.

The Germans in the latter places cheerfully celebrated the 3,000 kilometer mark. Stefan Schlett, who has done all kinds of extreme stuff, including the Hawaian triathlon, quadrathlon, the Mt. Everst triathlon, lit a cigar, although he doesn't smoke. Paul Every, Marcus Molnar and Bobby Brown visited an elementary school in Keith, and gladly answered all the children's questions, who follow the event on the internet. They met again, by coincidence, at the pool in the afternoon and got their autographs signed on notebooks, hats, school bags, shirts, arms, legs, the bravest ones even on their backs.

Tommorow's stage is supposed to take the runners to the border between South Australia and Victoria, so the organisers returned their rented cars back to Adelaide. Sakurai's car broke down right after today's stage. His attendant Juki will sit behind the wheel of a new van tomorrow, so will Dusan's daughter, Neza Mravlje, and two other drivers among the organisers.

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