As is always the case with the Purbeck Trail Series, the last couple of miles of the curtain closer are a testing trawl across the sand at Studland Bay. As anyone who’s ever tried running on the sand will know, it’s not easy and if you’re racing on it, it can be painstaking. But at the Studland Stampede it has to be done and the reward makes the exertion worthwhile as once it’s over, the Purbeck Trail Series is done and dusted. And for those athletes who have done at least three of the five races, they will take their place in the final standings in relation to where they finished in each race.

After winning the Coombe Keynes 10k and finishing 2nd the Lighthouse Loop, the Beast and the Black Hill Run 10k, Stu Nicholas had the best record going into the final race. The only person who could conceivably defeat him for the series win was Christopher Peck of Egdon Heath Harriers. He’d beaten Stu in both the Beast and the Black Hill Run 10k.

Luckily Chris didn’t show up for the Studland Stampede though which meant Stu was home and dry without even having to set foot on the course. Since he’d made the journey though, he thought he may as well do it anyway. Plus it would mean that he’d done all five of the races in the series and there was some gravitas attached to that. Everyone who did all five races was awarded a special certificate and had their photo posted on the Facebook page.

After finishing runner up in the series last year, Stu had come for win this time and he wasn’t about to be second best again. Leading the way in the M70 standings, Geoff Newton was hoping to seal the category win for the series. He did know that having done two of the races so far, Hamish Murray of Purbeck Runners could steal the category win if he turned up at the Studland Stampede. Unfortunately for Geoff, Hamish did indeed show up at Studland Bay.

Competing in his first race of the series, Neil Smith, also a Bournemouth AC runner, was at the Studland Stampede. As far as he was concerned, it was essentially a one off race and he was there run it as fast as he could and that was it.

With the series win already safely in the bag, Stu could have been forgiven for taking it a bit easier than he otherwise might have. But he didn’t. He wanted to win the series in style and that meant going out with a bang. Hence he was very quick out the blocks and although the first mile is mostly uphill he blasted through it at 5:40. No one else in the field was keeping up with that.

It was only really Iain Ferguson of Poole Runners who dared to even try. He soon succumbed to Stu’s strength and speed though and had to let him go. The first section of the course is on soft sand as well which makes it tough to get going. Not for Stu really though. He still managed to get through the second mile, which is is also mostly uphill, in 6:13. He then went on to post a 5:48 on his way back down the hill, followed by a 5:44.

Registering a 6:01 for his fifth mile and then a 6:27 for his sixth, it was then time to hit the sand for the last couple of miles. Stu already had an unassailable lead by that point but working through the soft sand is always going to be arduous no matter what the situation.

Managing it well though and clocking a 6:39 for his seventh mile and then a 6:45 paced final mile, or almost mile, Stu made it to the line. Recording a time of 48:47, Stu had built up a big lead over his closest rival. That was Barry Miller of Poole AC and he crossed the line in 50:09, so 1 minute 22 seconds behind Stu.

It wasn’t quite up there with the 42:44 course record the Jacek Cieluszecki nailed last year but it was still a strong and steadfast run from Stu and most definitely a performance to be proud of.

You get 500 points for a win in the Purbeck Trail Series, then it cascades down from there with each position. Since it’s only your best three races that count, the maximum amount of points you can get is 1,500. Stu got 1,499 so it was a real top quality scorecard from him and he demonstrated great consistency over a quite a varied range of course profiles.

The battle for 2nd place was also effectively for the runner up spot in the series as well. Daniel Thomas had been there but Barry, Jack Matthews and Alessandro Zanconato were all in contention. The fact that Barry got the 2nd place at the Studland Stampede was enough to give him the runner up spot for the series.

Alessandro finished 3rd in 50:43, with Jack Matthews taking 4th in 50:59. Daniel Thomas could only manage 5th place in 51:39 and that put him down to 5th in the final standings for the series. Jack was 3rd overall for the series, just a point behind Barr, and Alessandro was 4th.

William Loates of Dorchester RIOT and Christian Rodiger of Littledown Harriers were battling it out for 6th place but William got it in the end, with both athletes being given the same time of 52:05. Jon Clemas of Twemlow Track Club claimed 8th place in 52:12 and he finished 6th in the series overall.

Anna Philps of Purbeck Runners finished ahead of her teammate Isabel Davis at the Studland Stampede but it wasn’t enough to overturn their positions in the final standings and Isabel took the series win by two points. It had been a great battle between the pair of them, with Anna finished ahead on two occasions and Isabel also finished ahead of two occasions.

Anna got round in 53:16 at the Studland Stampede which put her 13th overall and Isabel was 15th in 53:47. Isabel was 12th in the series overall and Anna was 13th with the scorecards they achieved.

Completing the course in 1:06:49, Neil Smith came 111th overall. That was a decent effort from him on a course with such challenging terrain.

Finishing 4th in the M70+ category, Geoff Newton registered a time of 1:11:32 which put him 153rd overall. He had managed to beat two of his rivals for the series win at the Studland Stampede, with Neil Luckett taking 5th in the category in 1:14:09 and Ian Underwood getting 6th in 1:18:47.

Purbeck Runners master blaster Hamish Murray was far too quick for any of the others in the category though and he raced round in 1:03:11 which put him 80th overall. That was his third race of the series which meant he’d wrapped up the category win for the series, forcing Geoff to have to settle with 2nd place this time round.

Virginie Morris of Dorchester RIOT was 3rd female in 58:03 which put her 32nd overall and Jenny Lee Marshall of Purbeck Runners was 4th female and 35th overall in 58:18. The was enough to see Virginie take 3rd lady in the series overall by one point from Jenny who was 4th. They were 21st and 22nd in the series standings as a whole.

Christina Squire was 5th female at the Studland Stampede in 59:26 and she came 6th in the overall standings for the series and 1st F40. Jasmine Evans of Dorchester RIOT was 7th female in 1:01:52 and she finished 5th female in the standings for the series as a whole.

Stu’s wife Anna came 130th overall at the Studland Stampede in 1:08:39 and she was 25th female. She’d done all five races in the series and finished 68th overall and 18th female but she had slipped out of the top three in the Under 40 Female category with that final race. It was still a very good series from Anna’s perspective though.

It was a magnificent Purbeck Trail Series win for Stu though and one that he’ll certainly look back on with immense pride. His next race was the New Forest 10 where he would feature in a formidable looking Bournemouth AC line up with super Somalian Abdinassier Mohamoud and the irrepressible Joe Arundel also in action.