As the Eco-Challenge goes beyond its predicted weeklong length and into day eight, 27 remaining teams find themselves being forced to adjust to some new realities of this increasingly difficult race. Led by the Kiwis of Team Seagate.com, a total of three teams are currently racing around a pair of spectacular islands off the western coast of Viti Levu and are scheduled to arrive at the finish line sometime Friday morning, local time.

The MountainZone.com crew spent Thursday with the lead teams on the tiny island of Wayasewa, which is half a pair of islands which includes Waya to the North. The day began with Spain's Team Buff AXN asleep at CP13, at the south tip of Wayasewa. They had arrived at 4 a.m. with team member David Rovira experiencing severe foot pain after the team's audacious high-speed trek between CPs 6 & 8 Wednesday. By passing teams Montrail and GoLite on the trek simply by setting a horrendous pace, Buff AXN eventually paid the piper by the time they arrived at CP11's beach - with one team member in dire straits.

"We cannot continue," said team member Emma Roca on the beach of CP13 Thursday morning. "It's a shame, but he can't walk. It was a hard decision though." The team had moved from the beach up to the grassy village of CP13, then slept until late Thursday morning before deciding what to do. But with 12 hours of trekking before them, the team decided to call it quits and caught a boat ride home.

Seagate.com had left CP12 - four hours back on the even smaller island of Vomo - at 4:40 a.m., with GoLite chasing just 20 minutes behind them. Seagate then left CP13 20 minutes in the lead of GoLite, while Team Buff AXN could do nothing but watch the race move on into the island's interior without them. After a 1,000-foot climb, teams copied a number off a tiki hanging from a tree, then continued north to a narrow spit of land separating the two islands and around the northern island, on their way back to CP13.

At 10 a.m. Team 03 Air Pacific of Australia arrived on the beach of CP13 and then quickly left, in 3rd place, passing GoLite which had come back into the CP to gather a flotation device, losing an hour in the process. The team would later be caught sending just three team members into CP14, as navigator Ian Adamson reportedly remained outside the CP while his team checked in. He was then reportedly compelled to come into the CP to check in and complete his team, losing valuable time in the process.

Team Mazda of South Africa had trekked into the beach back at CP11 at 1 a.m. Thursday morning, and took a two-hour sleep before hitting the ocean. They arrived at CP13 at 4:10 p.m. and were in high spirits and said they had no major physical ailments. They also had plenty of food, scarfing down canned spaghetti and corned mutton hash as they prepared for a day of trekking and coasteering.

Mazda was vocal about their feelings with regard to the long race, saying "We should be done by now!" They complained not only that it was longer than planned from a food and clothing point of view, but also the fact that they only receive maps in sections, and were thus unable to plan for the remainder of the race.

"The length of everything in this race, it's a bit discouraging," said team member Philip Swanepoel. "The longest race I've done before this was just three and a half days. I've been wearing the same shoes and socks the whole race," he continued as he showed off the hole in his shoe. "We'll finish, it's just a matter of when."

"I haven't slept for a long time," said a smiling team member Michelle Lombardi. "So I slept in the boat." Most teams were using a sail on at least one boat to take advantage of Thursday's strong tail winds, but Team Mazda's mast had broken. The team soon collected their equipment, and left the CP at 5:20 in 4th place.

Montrail had eschewed sleep at CP11 Wednesday night and headed across the ocean, arriving at CP13 mid-morning. But one of their team members, Shane Sigle, was unable to hold down food and so the team held up at CP13 and slept for six straight hours. At the time that we left the island, captain Rebecca Rusch said they would make a decision whether to continue once they had assessed Shane's condition.

"We could sleep all night and go Friday morning, but then it becomes like 'why do it?' To slog through seems a bit pointless, like flogging of the teams." Rusch said their team was feeling the effects of the race running long, and wasn't quite sure what to do. "It's bizarre to stop for a day and still be in the [prize] money. Usually we evaluate whether to stop for five minutes. But if Shane can't continue we'll call it quits and go drink maitais by the pool. But we may take up to two days to decide."

Because the race is taking so long, organizers also announced Thursday that the snorkeling section between the islands has been cancelled, shaving some time off the race. But so many teams missed their cut-off Thursday that continuing on was not an option. It seems that the trekking between CPs 5 & 7 truly were the crux of the race, responsible for the elimination of the vast majority of the teams.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, Team Seagate cleared CP15 on Waya Island, just hours away from CP13's landing beach, which becomes CP17 as the teams depart. If they keep pace they are expected to land at the finishline Friday morning. But GoLite and Air Pacific are just minutes apart at this hour, and could be within an hour or two of the leader as they head for the home stretch past the infamous Beachcomber Resort Island and into Nadi Bay.

—Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent