Beginner's luck

It's official now; my good performance in the 1st Peak Raid 3 event was probably a fluke! This morning the event was to the east of Glossop and aided by lovely, unseasonal weather.

Hard to believe it's the 1st of November

I didn't have any specific problems but only managed to get 205 points, placing me in the bottom third of the results. With hindsight I spent far too long on paths, covering distance but not getting points. I was concerned about getting into very boggy ground but really should have just accepted that would be essential to more points. The good visibility would have made aiming for the general area of ridges fairly straightforward. Possibly I wasn't moving fast enough either; part of my reason for being on paths was for speed but due to their roughness they weren't even fast.

I had hoped to detour for a control or two in the last hour but found that I was moving too slowly and was in risk of occurring penalties. As the path improved near to the base I picked up my pace as much as possible.

This final burst of speed is evident on the Strava record. The last few km were on a slight descent, grass and gravel track that offered grip, comfort and visibility.

As a competition performance it was't great but it was a lovely morning of running. In terms of  learning:

• it's clear that I need to be more prepared to get muddy
• I must look at routes that are productive for points, I ran 6 km for one poorly scoring control
• 2 electrolyte tablets in 750ml might be correct, I didn't get cramp
• more hill training (up & down) wouldn't go amiss!

The pre-event planning was excellent, the map had great detail and the volunteers at the base helpful and friendly. There was a minor issue with the onsite timing but results are now out after a few hours which is fine. I'd very strongly recommend these events to a trail runner looking to test, or develop, navigation and off-path skills.