I picked a good day for it. Cool and dry with very little mud. I took four gels and 500 ml water starting from just next to Pannal train station.
I planned to try and run the route in under 2:50 to beat Chin Yong's record but after the first 4 km of uphill, with a gate or style seemingly every 10 metres, that didn't seem possible. Luckily the route opened out into paved paths after this which made for fast running. A lot of the route is on flat/undulating tracks, pavement or roads which isn't very exciting but does make for easy running. The exception to this was the path in the woods around Harlow Carr. This is by far the most fun section with rocks, mud and tree roots covering some quick downhill sections. After Harlow Carr it was a long slightly downhill section to the Nidd that makes running feel easy. Unfortunately that easy running made me turn my brain off and after following the Nidd for awhile thought I'd missed a bridge over the river. I then ran back half a kilometre before realising it was just bad GPS data and I'd been on the right path all along. After cursing myself for a few more kilometres, I pulled it together for the final 15 k through the surprisingly busy Knaresborough, a couple of main roads and fields to the end.
Overall a nice route with Harlow Carr and the Nidd being the highlights.