The event is part race & part navigation where some local knowledge is definitely an advantage. Having never been to the Cannock area before I took a good long look at the map during the drive down & worked out a rough route through the first few checkpoints.
When the race was finally started (after we had all been counted) I was amazed to see runners splitting off in about 5 different directions within 100yds of the start line. I stuck to my navigation plan as the field thinned out & trusted to my own navigation skills rather than just following a local! On the hill approaching the 1st checkpoint I realised that I may not have taken the most direct route as I found myself overtaking some runners I had previously passed - oh well!
The rest of the run went pretty well along some very runnable forest trails with only a few small climbs scattered in until a road section approaching the last checkpoint where I decided I'd had enough of running on the road & therefore took a path off through some nice looking woodland. It turned out this wasn't the optimum route & probably added a good 2 minutes on my time but I didn't turn up to run along a road so I'm claiming it was still the right decision! At the end one of the runners turned to me & said "I've never seen anybody take that route before!"
Once we'd all finished it was back to the race HQ for a soup & roll during the prize giving (none of us won anything - but we weren't expecting to!) before heading back home.
Finishing Time: 2:17:17
Finishing Position: 32nd/136
