The statement from Steve on the OMM forums actually says they are being reinstated without time penalties. If I'd gone the right way and was pushed down the rankings as a result I'd be justifiably annoyed!
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I can't speak for the Elite, but we were one of many teams who didn't complete day 2 on the A. We had to stop because my partner got cramp in his calf that stopped him doing anything but a slow walk with occasional screams & collapses into the bracken/bog/rocks. But I wasn't enjoying it either, & if you look at the day2 times for the finishers you'll see that day 2 averaged slightly slower than day 1 overall. Not quite as far, but there was more climbing. And the climbs, as far as we went anyway, were brutal, both down & up. There was virtually no chance of running for the 3 hours we were still competing, unless you count desperate descents trying to stay on your feet as running. I suppose I'd have kept going to the end, but the going was grim, & would have been even without the weather.
I didn't try to stay on my feet and rested by quads with some fantastic bum slides. Only hit one small rock and one descent had me whooping with thrill.
Glad we got in chasing start tho as our planned day 2 start was 9.17 and we woulf have been out in the yuk for longer and I was cold and wet enough as it was
The elite day 1 was harder, we were 1:30 quicker on day 2. I reckon a good 5-7 miles and 500-600m less ascent.. but obviously route choices vary..
Does anyone have the stats for the days. Mapping it I made our day 1 over 30 miles but we did the long sweep to the north and OoB's to get between 2 of the CP's. Must have been high 20's.
A few photos http://climbing.me.uk/OMM2012/index.html
I'm similar.. I look at the map and don't read anything.. we went back the right way, never thought of another way, but certainly never saw the statement in question.
The howgills were a great area though, you could basically take any line, almost all routes were safe, a lot steep and tussocky..
Overall, for all the issues dealt with I thought the organisation was superb. £55 for 2 days and it felt a bargain.