Note
Some fast, although not necessarily smooth, talking yesterday afternoon had averted a crisis in terms of any complaints being made against the middle distance race, and I was deeply relieved although not yet inclined to relax because the Ultralong wasn't over yet (although Robin and I and her GPS were all in concurrence about the placement of the controls) and we were out at the event site pegging maps on the clothesline at 8am in preparation for the M21E mass start at 9:30, followed at 5-minute intervals by W21E, M20E, W20E. The latter, because of a short first loop, were first to pass back through the map change and from then on there was a steady stream of competitors passing through for their second map. Unsurprisingly, the flow rate slowed down a bit when it came to the 3rd map, as it was getting warm in the sun and some people were exhausted but very few pulled out - and nobody changed their shoes, despite a number of people having left a spare pair along with their snacks and supplies.
I didn't have much opportunity to keep an eye on how the other age classes' competitors were going until after the final 3rd-leg elite map had been taken, and when I did get to grab a cheese toastie cooked by my long-suffering spouse in aid of the junior squad's catering, the next thing I found out was that the course setter's spouse was not very impressed by the 'special' map he'd been given; unfortunately the course run by M65A, W45A and M21AS had somehow ended up with the elites' start triangle 100m west of the finish instead of the other age classes' start triangle 100m east of the finish - oops. Surprisingly, only one other competitor commented on this!
Final part of the day was control collecting. G dropped me & Zara off at a water control halfway up the map and we walked north in parallel lines, collecting about 10 controls each, to the northernmost water control where he met us. It was lovely to be walking in the late afternoon sun with the glow on the Chace Range, but it was also nearly dark by the time we got back to camp - and the Uppills, having coordinated the rest of the control collecting, weren't back any earlier than us, so they must have been exhausted too.