Sunny but viciously cold start to the day. Always knew I could gain time on the descents but still kept the pedal hard to the floor on the climb up. Reached High Spying How and the start of Striding Edge in an hour; the traverse of the ridge was slower than I would’ve hoped for due to a slight frost; made the summit 20 mins later. Same went for Swirral Edge and the rocky climb up and down Catstye Cam; icy rocks to negotiate. The race was on from Red Tarn onwards but I gained continuously with sub-9 miles. Nightmare scenario near the end as, with less than .5 of a mile to go and looking at a sub-2 hour time, the GPX file given was taking me through private properties so I had to stick to the signposted footpath and that added .5 of a mile to the overall distance. This also happened on the ascent as the bridleway was up to 100 foot away from the GPX route at times. Mostly I could follow the GPX route but sometimes this would’ve had me trampling through the delicate habitat of nesting birds; that is never an option. Still, 19:55 quicker than the previous record is not to be sniffed at. (Please could the moderators\admin note that the current GPX is slightly incorrect in that it doesn't strictly stick to the path and that following it to the inch would require illegal trespassing on private properties; maybe further attempts will be allowed to use the prescribed bridleway at the end to bypass these private gardens)