Today was an exciting day on the wild elephant trail.   The race started at 6: 30 local time.   The course started with a traverse of dense jungle and a trail along the lake covered with lotus flowers.   This is an area frequently visited by wild elephants, however, our course team consisting of Richard Bull and Pavel Toropov were working together with our local partner, Raja, to make sure the runners encountered no elephant activity and were safe.  During today’s 40.5km stage the runners had to endure heat and humidity and pass through ancient ruins to arrive at Rittigala Elephant Reserve.   The reserve served as our home for the night, where runners slept on the airy open space in the visitor center to the sounds of the local villagers scaring away elephants from their fields with sound bombs.

The stage was dominated by Nathan  Montague who completed the 40.5km stage in 3 hours 47 minutes. Sanath  Bandara the local running superstar ,was second, and Xavi Marina from  Spain had a superb day, coming third.  Christina Khinast won the female category, with Maria Rotger (Spain) second and Sophithida Kong from Cambodia, third. The performance of the day was from Stefan Kapellan (Germany) who climbed two places in the overall rankings from 11^th to 9^th.

Tomorrow is the long stage, 52km of jungle, dirt roads, trails and lots of wildlife and stunning scenery along the way to enjoy.