I'm wondering why the sponsors didn't kill Corinne as a little girl. Presuming that her parents were racing to stop her death, when they died, wouldn't the sponsors assume that she would eventually attempt to co-opt the race? If they were threatening to kill her anyway, why not just carry through?

I'm wondering why the sponsors didn't kill Corinne as a little girl. ... If they were threatening to kill her anyway, why not just carry through?

"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport."

In other words, it's more fun to watch then squirm than to kill outright.

My guess would be that at that point she was no longer of the slightest interest to them, so why bother? If we learn more about what happened to her afterward it might clear things up.

Unless the people running the race actually have manipulated Corinne into her current situation, I don't think she would really be there. To use an analogy, she seems to be the "Angel" (although maybe not with any special powers except her vengance) to the Races runners who are like "Wolfram and Heart". They may actually be trying to recruit her to their side- or use her to eliminate people inside the orginizartion they don't want around anymore.

Well, maybe they released her-as-a-child because they didn't think it would be a problem? It's not indicated Alan James was chasing her because of who she was/is, but because she has the flash drive somehow. If she's managed to get close enough to The Race to get a flash drive full of that level of information, you gotta assume they don't know who she actually is.

I think that Corinne role isn't clear yet.

I am too lame to think the whole thing through yet. Or maybe I just like to enjoy my confusion for a bit.

Here's the paradox I keep pondering: if everyone received that first call at the same time, and we saw Tully running out to his car while he was still on the phone, how did someone from California beat him to the first location? Honestly? I should really just let it go.

I thought they received that first call at different times.

if everyone received that first call at the same time

They didn't. The intercutting was dramatic license.

Well, it's implied they received it at the same time in terms of visual representation, however it's possible that it wasn't the same time.

One thing that bugs me is the racers aren't supposed to know who each other are, but they were all (bar one) in the same room together at the beginning, and all meet up at the check points.

Didn't the subtitles say how many days ago each scene was? And they were all different.