Stage two had an earlier cool start at 7am, with a fresh breeze chasing the last of the runners. The triple marked course held up to challenges from village children.
Most of the route was on trails, and included a river crossing that claimed two who slipped into the water. Just wet feet and wounded pride.
The top two females were again strong performances from France's Véronique Messina in first and Clémentine Tanguide in second. Third female was again Charla Heimer, reflecting the overall ranking. Stephan Vernay again was comfortably in the lead but today was chased all the way by Sri Lanka's Sanath Bandara in second place. Third place for the men went to Bjorn Van Camp. These three take the top three spots in the overall ranking this far.
Much wildlife was seen along the river trail with kingfishers zipping along, monitor lizards and even a snake on the side of the road. Thankfully only elephant dung and no elephants.
Camp tonight is in a local village nestled at the foot of a small mountain. We are sleeping in village houses kindly shared by their owners.
All the runners finished today and everyone seemed to have a good day. Cynthia Fish, a fast walker, was fizzing with energy at checkpoint three, and Hans Schmid, the most senior runner at 75 stormed in at 14th place ; inspirational indeed.