thof - no, not a member of any club at the moment

I have thought about entering one up north, maybe next year ... I am a notherner by birth and upbringing so it'd be a homecoming...

Joining a Peaks club is probably an ideal way for you to get into it though - especially gaining the confidence with navigation, terrain etc.

I had done a fair bit of winter fell-walking and an advanced navigation course, but I'm not totally sure how I'd fare in a race if the weather really came in: there's a difference between walking, when you're warm and dry and have time to moon about and take everything in; and when you're running in a vest and blowing snot all over the place and just want to keep going rather than keep checking the map ...

Obviously, it's a lot more of an issue in long races than the shorter ones.

Doing recces / training runs with more experienced runners is probably the way to go.