Jungle Marathon
Almost Too Hot to Run
Fredrik Olmqvist / 22.09.2004
The winner of the 3rd stage was Korean runner Ki Hyung An in 4 hrs 23 mins. I tried to follow him but he was to strong for me in the last kilometer and I finished 2nd, two minutes behind him. I had to walk even though we were racing for 1st place - the heat and exhaustion had finally got to me.
Two minutes later Kevin Lin arrived. He had missed the trail markers and lost approx 10 mins (together with his friend Charlie). And today I have to report my first ‘Jungle Marathon snake' – it was a red & black striped coral snake, just a foot away on the trail.
Andrea Estevan (Br) was the first women to cross the finish, just 3 minutes in front of Anna McPherson, and there were 9 Brazilians among the first 14 in the male class.
Out of the 78 starting the race, 57 are still competing after the 3rd stage. Two runners had to pull out today. Unfortunately, my friend Gerard Verdenet was one of them. He was given IV treatment at CP3 after feeling weak and dizzy - this race is hard!
“Running in the jungle is very different, the feet are wet all the time, which causes a lot of problems�, said Brazilian Triathlete Jair Machado. Normally he trains every day, but this is more than he expected – he says it’s tougher than EMA (the Brazilian Expedition Adventure race).
Tomorrow the 4th stage (21km) will start with swimming across a 200m wide river - with alligators! Nice! And then comes the longest stage of all, 50 miles, which will be ‘make or break’ for most of us, or just a matter of survival.
SleepMonsters
