A fantastic race today. Perfect Mountain Trial conditions, i.e. about 50 yard visibility for the entire course.
I don't really know these hills once off the race routes so was a bit apprehensive, even more so when we were bundled onto a coach and driven to the mystery start location (turned out to be Cardington). Even more so when it turned out I'd be the very last to start, so nobody coming up behind me.... and yet more so when I realised the first 4 cp's were on hills that I'd never previously set foot on.
I made a good start and over the first couple of cp's managed to catch 4 or 5 in front, but then disaster struck as I appear to have followed an incorrect fence-line, and the error appears to have snowballed from there (eventually realising I was at least a mile off-course and had in fact gone off the race map). Managed to pull myself back from the brink of another dnf but probably lost 20-25mins on that cp.
The 2nd half of the trial took place on the Long Mynd side of the main road, so much more familiar with the lay of the land. I expect the results will show a much more impressive split on this section... straightlined nearly everything in order to pull back time, which I must admit was tough on the legs as involved some nasty ascents and descents.
Trundled in to the finish in 3hrs10 which was approx an hour behind the winner.
A great experience and learned a lot. Mistakes were made but didn't panic (too much) and got round a tough nav event in zero visibility. I'm sure when I see the results though I'll be a little frustrated as I expect the time lost will have cost me a fair few places... although I was far from the only person to go walkabout in rural Shropshire today!