It had been an extremely good year for Stu Nicholas as his back catalogue of achievements grew bigger and bigger. Winning the Purbeck Trail Series was a feat to be proud of and finishing fourth in the Men’s individual table for the Dorset Road Race League season was a massive accomplishment.

He’d also finished first in 29 parkruns over those 11 months, demonstrating remarkable consistency. There was still time for a couple more successes for Stu though going into December.

The first of those was a brand new Christmas trail running festival that took place in the New Forest. Organised by BigFeat events, the New Forest Xmas Trails started out from Avon Tyrell Outdoor Activity Centre in Bransgore.

There were 14k, 30k, Marathon and 50k distances for entrants to choose from and Stu opted for the 30k race. The route was fairly undulating and it was wet and muddy underfoot. That didn’t stop Stu from going out and attacking though as he would any other race. There was quite a testing incline on the first mile which meant that Stu opened with a 7:45 for his first split.

He then clocked a 7:26 for his second mile before getting into his stride and registering split times of just over 7 minutes for his next couple of miles. There was another significant hill to get up on the fifth mile but Stu managed it no problems, clocking a 7:01 for that mile.

He cranked up the pace a notch after that, posting a 6:26 followed by a 6:13 before getting through the next four miles at around 6:30 pace. Then he registered a 6:46 for his 12th mile. A 7:16 for his 13th mile was then followed by a 6:25 for his 14th.

Despite the undulations and the tricky conditions, Stu was strong over the latter stages of the race, going at well under 7 minute mile pace for his next four miles. The course ended up being slightly longer than the advertised 30km. In fact, it was more like 32km but Stu managed to see it out and take top spot on the podium, crossing the line in 2 hours 15 minutes and 52 seconds.

It was a sublime run from Stu and put him way ahead of anyone else. In fact, his nearest challengers were two women – Jess Cooke and Kim Crane. They completed the course in 2:23:26. Stu’s average pace for the 19.76 miles he covered was 6:52 per mile. 124 runners in total took part in the 30km race.

Stu’s wife Anna did the 14km race and she made it a special day for the couple by finishing as first female in a time of 1 hour 22 minutes and 24 seconds. Again, the course was slightly longer than advertised but Anna ran it well and crossed the line a minute ahead of Emma Lindell who was second lady.

Anna finished 10th overall, with Simon Jennison securing a convincing victory in 1:06:01. Christopher Chester of Hedge End was second in 1:14:28. There were 180 finishers in in the 14km race and 108 of those were women, underlining what a terrific result it was for Anna.

There was one more race to go this year for Stu and that was the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon. He’d won that three times before and would no doubt have been hoping to add to that tally in this year’s race.