The first race was over faster than I would have thought possible. Two of the men limped off the track before I realized that the runners were required to run without shoes. One of them cowered out at the last second, which made me wonder just how tough this race could get. Out of the last four two were taken for their next heat. They were a tall, red-headed man and a willowy woman with shorn hair.
The second heat started much the same way as the first, with a couple of the contestants backing out and one or two failing to complete three circuits. Gerath had been well ahead of the rest of them, and I was suitable impressed, though I thought he was holding back the last couple of paces in order to keep his wind and not embarrass the others too badly.
In the third heat, five new people were added to the two who won the first round, which I thought was not very fair to those who had already had to run. But once more the woman placed, and also a strange looking person bundled in black. How he or she could be surviving in such a sunny albeit breezy day was beyond me.
More heats passed, until there were only two people left to compete for the first time, and five others who had already ran, but had rested a whole heat. This time, they were to run until only one was left running. That was when I knew why so many had decided not to even begin. This was a race for the mentally tough as well as the physically fit.
One very large person beside me yelled in my ear, "It don't matter 'ow many times they do 'round, they 'ave to win on their feet and eve'body else down on their knees!" I shivered at this honest but brutal way of viewing the final race.
Yes, my eyes saw Gerath stretching with the others, as well as the woman from the first heat, who I had secretly been cheering on. She was the fastest of all the girls that had competed. I doubted I could run as swiftly as she.
"See there? That's my daughter Harni, the only woman left fer the end." The man pointed a chubby finger in the direction of the runners. "I know she got a good chance o' winnen' it. Though in the end, the real winner is whoever beats the run of last year, but they don' tell you that, usually." I nodded politely and simply said, "I'm here for Gerath."
He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "Gerath's the favorite tah win, but my Harni can survive anythin'!"
The next instant, the crack of the small whip resounded across the square as the last race was one.
The sound of the crowd was deafening, but I blocked it out and focused on Gerath. He ran so freely, like he had no cares at all, a half-smile on his face, his hands half-closed into fists and swinging rhythmically with a beat in his feet that did not stop. The woman's technique was almost exactly the same, though his strides were bigger, and her smile was thinner. There were other competitors, but I paid them no mind, knowing that those two were most likely to win.
"How long can the races be?" I asked the large man next to me. "From five minutes to thirty, about," he replied, eyeing the runners. "From the looka things, this 'un is a long one." It was pleasant to watch Gerath run, but I could not stand to see the winded runners fall behind the pack and slow to a walk, disqualified. Their faces were so haggard, sweat pouring like rain from their faces, shiny in the rays of the merciless sun. Only a third of the track was in shade, the rest of the dirt baked to a shifting, hot consistency. As the rest zoomed past me, the reddened soles of their feet flashed in the air. They ran like the ground was made of smoldering coals.
Ten minutes passed, and three runners were left, the woman, Gerath, and the strange, black-clothed man. Though I could see the woman flag behind once or twice, she would breath deeper to find somewhere the grit to go on and pull even with the two others. Her shorter legs were her only disadvantage, I knew. They stretched the same amount but covered a shorter distance.
The crowd stopped cheering after the twentieth lap. Some of them drew away from the track to find comfortable spots in out of the sun to sit. Harni's father left to find a lemonade stand, but I stayed; I did not want to miss anything, whether it be good or bad.
-- Who do you think will survive the final race?? Please continue reading to find out! :) It will be posted tomorrow..
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