Discussion: Winning times

I am so confused. Bulletin 1 implied that they would be 80% of standard winning times as is common for Australian 3-days, i.e. 48 min for most classes. But it seems to me as though Day 2 was set by Eric to be a classic-length long race all along, and then the courses weren't shortened even when the terrain was found to now be 20% slower. And then the lack of water (which I did NOT support) made it even worse for overheated dehydrated people...

I haven't had the need to read the rules for some time, but it was my understanding that the shorter than normal winning times were a requirement for the 3 days. I agree that rules do specify what people to be consider quite short winning times for the long distance races for older classes, these are what should be used as the reference point. I do miss the true long/epic races I used to do in elites, but if I really wanted to, I have the option to run other classes if I truly want to replicate that experience. My problem here is expectations heading into the event did not reflect reality and I was totally unprepared - mentally, physically and equipment-wise.

And you definitely weren't the only one.