The first five front runners after two hours: Valmir Nunes, John Geesler (USA)!, Vladimir Bychkov (Rus), Ewald Eder (Austria), Dmitriy Tishin (Rus).
Within the first two hours, 25 runners in total completed 10 loops (= 25.0 km). Irina Koval, the leading woman from Russia, is 28th overall. Hiroko Okiyama (Japan) and Edith Berces (Hun) are second and third, in each others neighbourhood, 5 minutes behind Irina.
In the past hour I made a tour around the loop and was impressed by the pleasant roads aoutside the track. The refreshment zone is cosy and I made a pleasant chat with Gerrit van Rotterdam, the Dutch team manager. The Dutch men team is led by Wim Epskamp, with 6 minutes behind followed by Ron Teunisse. The other two members, Tom Hendriks and Ben Mol, have started cautiously.
See the website of the organising club for the full list of participants:
http://www.dekeien.nl
Martien Baars