The Slow Cup final began at dusk on Wednesday and ended, after a nervy last half-meter, sometime after one in the morning, when an unranked newcomer crossed the chalk line about a shell’s width ahead of the two-time champion.
For most of the evening the champion led comfortably. She took the inside line along the wall, as she always does, and built an early lead of nearly a hand’s length. But the newcomer’s decision to wait out a dry patch beneath a leaf, and then move quickly once the dew settled, paid off in the closing stretch.
“I just went when the ground was ready,” the winner said afterward. “I wasn’t trying to be clever.”
The champion was gracious in defeat. “Next year,” she said, and retreated into her shell for the rest of the night.