One of the fast riders was running fine/file tread tires probably on a gravel bike so that's not working. Also they would have had a very light setup as they wouldn't be planning to stop whereas for lots of us that was a real possibilityThanks Bob. I suspect (but probably wrong) all the talk by Bikepacking.com saying it's a reasonable difficulty route(s) and lots of folks turning up in gravel bikes, may have caused Stu to push the boundaries to what's acceptable (to you lot).
A key difference in the experience is a lot of faster riders would have been hitting the worst section in daylight which would have made a big difference as lines would have been a lot more obvious and water easier to cross.
I'd be surprised if anyone who did it in the dark got a black badge
I did get told a few packed before it as the second part of the East -West bogathon did for them (it would have been dark for them)