Volvo Ocean Race leaders smash 10,000nm mark

Race leaders Ericsson 4 and PUMA reached the milestone 10,000-nautical-mile marker last night as the pair battled along the fifth leg of the grueling Volvo Ocean Race bound for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The two front-runners have covered over 2,000 nautical miles since they and the rest of the depleted fleet left the Chinese port of Qingdao on Valentine's Day.

Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazilian Torben Grael, and American Ken Read's PUMA were leading the fleet midway between Micronesia and the Marshall Islands yesterday in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International dateline and due north of the equator.