I was volunteering for the early days of the races. Times were of course faster on average than during the Winter, due to the extra daylight hours and much lighter pack weight. Still there were some testing times during bad weather and racers with commanding leads failing to finish, whilst most were not racing but as usual just happy to finish. Pavel went very well to and beyond halfway, but his fast pace could not be maintained so retired af Greenhead, after the realisation that the record was out of reach.
I think that the Summer Spine Flare (Edale to Hawes) in particular will take off massively, they have over 200 showing an interest already for the 2018 race.