I suggest we have a forum recce like the one we had last year on Sunday 17th February.
(There are races most other weekends).
As last year, start & finish at Mam Nick, doing the second half first and omitting the descent/ascent of Ringing Roger. I think it's 19 or 20 miles.
If there is a big enough response we could split into two groups so that the slower runners (like me) don't hold up the faster runners.