Was a rookie racer on Sat. Glad people are saying that's tougher than the 3Ps (probably only because its in the recent memory). I found the latter stages pretty hard to motivate myself to put in the effort. Was going fine up to CP7 (enjoyed that descent which seemed steeper than down to CP4?). But that 5th climb knocked the stuffing out of me. I was cold in the hail, probably should've put gloves / jacket on but decided not to and just put up with feeling sorry for myself, gradually getting overtaken by all the 10.30's. Then when I looked down from the edge and saw CP9 I could've given up there and then.

Stuck it out and trudged in around 3.40 - 3.45 ish. Wasn't sure whether I should've done a 10 or 10.30 start at that pace but got bored of waiting around so went early.

I think the staggered start worked well (obviously a logistical pain for the results!). It was good to see the fast runners in the middle stages of the race, rather than just seeing them sprinting off at the start and being sat around at the finish laughing and joking when I turn up feeling wrecked! However I made it to CP4 in ~1.35ish. Maybe next year the start should be staggered but the cut off brought in to 12pm. I certainly felt sorry for the marshalls on top on saturday - I've no idea how long they had to stay up there but the more we can do to shorten that then the best for all concerned.

Brilliant race - will be recommending that and hopefully back next year