your long final course certainly spent much more time (all) in the fast fun stuff. courses from the other start went through a fair bit of much lower viz stuff before we got out into the coastal dunes. I really loved the terrain (not that I really had the legs for it either) not super tricky, but intense at speed, and hard to maintain both speed and concentration without stuffing up.
I might have enjoyed the open forest more if I'd had someone to chase, rather than looking over my shoulder all the time.