Five hours into the race: 80 km

Running conditions have improved for the runners. The sun is still shining but through a thin layer of clouds. There are still a lot of spectators all along the 10 K loop, cheering on the runners. The warm weather earlier on has taken it’s toll. Quite a few runners had to stop for various reasons, but predominantly for going too fast under the unexpectedly warm sun.
The race is now into the decisive stage. The front runner has just covered 80 K. Still Ardemagni in 5.00 hours. This is on schedule for a finish time of 6.15. He did not show any signs of weakening yet and still had a clear lead of 4 minutes on his follower Jaroslav Janicki. The fastest women have just covered 70 K. First was still Zhyrkova and second Casiraghi. Third is now the Russian Marina Bichkova, and Akiko Sekyia is now fourth.