Winter Tanners, like all LDWA events, has a format of 'start when you want' within a certain timeframe, in this case 7:30 to 10am, run or walk the course going through checkpoints on route, to a finish where you are logged in and given your time.
I started this one about 9 o'clock mainly because I couldn't be bothered to get up before 8am. I put my clothes on, drove the 45 minutes to the start and stopped in a petrol station and ate a mars bar just before i started. I kicked off on my own and ran a mile or so to the start of the hills. Id been warned it was hilly but I was pretty suprised with what we were instantly posed with. There was about 7500 feet of climb over the 30 miles of cross country running, all off road and it was, in places, severely muddy.
I've gotten better at the downhills now and it felt pretty heroic just to hammer past people on the regular long downhill trail sections. Of course with the event being in this format you have no real idea of how you're placing and these events are not billed as races because of the format but most people complete them as quickly and as well as they are able too. You can only tell how you're quickly you're going in relation to those that you are running past or vice versa. There were about 130 runners and nobody came past me in over 5 hours of running. It felt like I was on fire. I really pushed it in places but in others just kept a steady pace so as not to burn out. I had a lot of gas left in the tank at the end and on some of the bigger climbs between 24 and 27 miles I started to open up and stepped around a lot of people on the single track trails. In the end I came across the line in 5hrs14 which was apparently the 4th fastest time of the day. It was a great day and I felt well within my limits the entire time. Coming the weekend after the 45 mile Country to Capital I took this as a pretty good sign of fitness.
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