There is only 9 minutes difference between Valmir Nunes and runner-up Lucien Taelman. Both had covered 112,5 km within the first 9 hours. Paul Beckers is third, Ryoichi Sekiya fourth and Vladimir Kurbatove fifth. The Belgian team is still leading the competition, and team manager Jos Cleemput does not know what to think about this stunning position so early in the race. The finish area is now far less dense populated than earlier today, but the refreshment zone is still rather crowded and in fact by far the most cosy part of the 2.5 km loop. But it is also rather dark in that zone, and the pace differences between the participants mutually, plus all the helpers running or walking with them, does make it quite obscure for those with the highest pace.
In the women’s race there is not change in the first four positions but the French Joelle Semur is now on fifth place. My personal favourites (my wife Aaltje is presumably already to bed, far away at Texel, so she does not read this – are Sharon Gayter and Hiroko Okiyama, and they are 78 + 79 overall with more than 90 km after 9 hours.
There is no UK women team, unfortunately, but the men UK team is now in 9th position, with Walter Hiil and William Sichel on places 22 and 28, respectively.
I hope that http://www.dekeien.nl will list the intermediate results after 9 hours. Please use the menu on the left on that website to acquire these results.
Martien Baars
Please use ton.smeets@ou.nl for email contact with the two of us