Loop 10: 46:12 from bib 11, and three left standing

Loop 10 is in: four runners came back inside the hour, and ten yards is 67.1 km. The evening has settled in and sunset is close.

Bib 11 was quickest, in 46:12, with bibs 18 and 17 next at 50:25 and 51:32. Bib 8 got back with 4 min 22 sec to spare, and then did not run loop 11, so finishes on 10 yards. Bib 14 stopped in loop 10 and finishes on 9 yards. That makes 43 out so far.

Three are in the race, all on 10 yards: bibs 11, 17 and 18. Of the 15 who started the Backyard Ultra, these are the three left.

What the splits say. Bib 11 is getting faster as the hours stack up: his first five loops averaged 47:35 and his last five 45:40, with a best of 44:32 in loop 6. He has run 7 hours 46 minutes of the 10, which is about 13 minutes of rest banked every hour. Bib 18 is the metronome: ten loops, every one between 50:09 and 53:29, averaging 51:50 and about 8 minutes of rest an hour. Bib 17 went out quickest of the three, 45:13 in loop 1, but has slowed from a 47:26 average over his first five loops to 51:56 over his last five.

Bib 8’s 55:38 in loop 10 was his slowest of the race, against a 49:56 first loop. Bib 14 averaged 45:17 over his first five loops, then slowed to 53:24 by loop 9.

The context. The Ahmedabad chapter record is 18 yards, set by Amit Bhattacharjee in 2025; he is bib 1 this year and stopped on 8 yards. The best of this season so far is 25 yards, at Pune. The three left are 8 yards short of the Ahmedabad mark. Together the whole field has run 338 yards, 2,267 km.