Following an hour delay, the race kicked off at 10am and after 200m turned sharply left and then again sharply left into a creek bed. Down the creek bed we romped splashing through minor crossings and over softball sized stones. Not much of a change in the front running pack. Wei Chao and Chen Penbin went out like they remembered that they left the iron on, followed by a pack led by Dan Parr. Christian Scheister, Jimmy Olsen, and flying Dane Anders Jensen. I trailed the pack by about 20 seconds tracking through a Muslim cemetery until we turned right onto a long canopied tarmac road as villagers waived us on with little pink flags. "Wait, those are the course markers they're waving!" Waiving us on with devilish looks of sarcasm, it was almost as though they were patronizing us. "We're cheering for you to hide the fact that we've completely screwed your race..."
I came up on the pack at a standstill at an intersection, clueless with which way to go. I pushed us onward and in less than 400m we spied the finish line to our immediate right. In the sprint finish it was Chen Penbin, Dan Parr, Jimmy Olsen, Anders Jensen, me, and Christian Scheister.
Handshakes and hugs all around, it was real food time. A week of ramen noodles, soup, and warm water was finally replaced by cold beer, warm pasta, fresh fruit, and fried chicken.
Congratulations to all the competitors!!
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