I remember the 1970s film starting Alan Akrin called “The Russians Are Coming”, about the mock Russian assault on a small town in New England. Everyone was on high alert, not knowing what the Russians intentions were. Well its 2011 now, and in our small town of Queens, the “Russians” are “Ukrainians” (and there is a difference, just ask them) and at almost the half way point, it is clear what their intentions are: they are out to win the race! Just ask Ashprihanal. I pick him up everyday, along with Stutisheel and Surasa. These three prefer to be driven to and from the race, unlike the other runners who prefer the freedom of biking. He talks about Igor and Sarvagata, the two new runners, almost every day, but with glowing admiration.
The 7 time champ is well aware of the two newcomers because they are faster the the flying Finn; just count the number of times they pass Ashprihanal during the day. How can it not ware on his nerves during the course of 18 hours. But the champ has the right attitude. Competition is good as it will always bring out the best in you, as long as you take it in the right spirit. And Ashprihanal does: he likes the challenge and admires how fast the two Ukrainian boys are and that they finish almost always at 10:30 pm so that they can go home earlier and go more sleep. Ashprihanal stays almost to midnight everyday just to maintain his slowly dwindling lead. He feels that he is going about as fast as he can; to go faster would invite injury.
So what are Igor’s and Sarvagata’s strategy? They will not tell me, but, I heard from a friend of theirs, that right now they are being somewhat cautious as this is their first 3100 mile race. But, soon, if they continue feeling strong, they will start staying out later, past 10:30 pm, to make up the miles on the champ. With their speed, will they have enough time to make up the 50+ mile deficit? It seems we have a race going on here. Keep an eye on the daily results. They tell the real story. Stay tuned…