Loop 12: 45:54 from bib 11, and bib 18 runs his quickest loop yet

Loop 12 is in: all three runners still in the race came back inside the hour, and twelve yards is 80.5 km.

Bib 11 was quickest, in 45:54, with 14 min 6 sec to spare. Bib 18 followed in 49:13, his quickest loop of the race, and bib 17 in 53:27, who had 6 min 33 sec to spare. No one went out in loop 12, so 43 are out and three are in the race, all on 12 yards: bibs 11, 17 and 18.

What the splits say. Bib 11 has now run 9 hours 18 minutes of the 12, averaging 46:34 a loop, about 13 minutes of rest an hour. His last five loops average 45:57 against 47:35 for his first five. Bib 18 ran his fastest loop yet, 49:13, a minute and ten seconds quicker than the one before; his last five average 50:43 against 52:06 for his first five. Bib 17 is still giving up time: 47:27 over his first five loops and 51:54 over his last five, and his last three have crept up, 51:32, 52:25 and 53:27, so over the last five he is giving bib 11 close to six minutes a loop.

The context. This is a last-one-standing race with no finish line: it ends when one runner is left, and the winner has to complete one more yard than the last runner to stop. The Ahmedabad chapter record is 18 yards, set by Amit Bhattacharjee in 2025, so the three left are 6 yards short of it. The best of this season so far is 25 yards, at Pune. Together the whole field has run 344 yards, 2,307 km.