
As he usually is in most local off-road races, Jacek Cieluszecki was the man to beat at the Studland Stampede
After coming within 15 seconds of the course record in last year’s race, Jacek Cieluszecki was back at the Studland Stampede again for another crack. Gareth Klapacz time from 2008 was still standing but it was under serious threat. If JC could manage any improvement on his attempt from last year, he would surely take it. It wasn’t going to be an easy task though. He needed to get in in under 43 minutes 19 seconds.
It wasn’t just about whether JC could break the course record though. It was also the fifth and final race in the Purbeck Trail Series. The winner of that would be decided on the day and currently leading the way was Bournemouth AC‘s very own Stu Nicholas. He’d won the Dorset Ooser Half Marathon, finished 2nd in the Black Hill Run 10k and come 5th in The Beast. That gave him a points total of 1,495 out of a possible 1,500.
It was a brilliant record but it could still be beaten. City of Salisbury man Stuart Holloway had finished 2nd at The Beast and had won the Black Hill Run 10k so if he turned up at the Studland Stampede, he could snatch victory from Stu Nicholas’ clutches.
Since he was doing the Great South Run that day, Stu Nicholas wasn’t going to be there. He had to hope that other runners would do him a favour and finish ahead of Stuart Holloway. In fact, he needed, five other men to beat Stuart Holloway if he was to claim the series win. it seemed a big ask.
Three-time previous winner Phil Mosley was in the line up though, so he was one who had serious pedigree. Lee Thomas was 3rd in the series so far and he was featuring in his fourth race. He had to win the race if he was to have any chance of winning the series and even if he did, he’d need Stuart Holloway to finish below 4th. That didn’t seem very likely.
Another previous Studland Stampede winner, Steve Claxton, was also in the field. He was 4th in the series at that stage. It wasn’t possible for him to improve on that position though, even if he won.
Pretty much home and dry for the M70 category win, Geoff Newton was running his fifth race of the series out of five. As was Zak Preston. At that stage he was 7th in the Male, non vet category. The top three weren’t eligible for category prizes as well though so Zak wasn’t actually far away from getting into the top three for his category.
The first 1.7 miles of the race is predominantly uphill. That would slow most normal humans down quite considerably. Not JC though. He went through the first two miles in 5:40 and 6:08, despite the fact they were on an incline. From there it was mostly downhill until 3.6 miles. That gave JC the chance to crank the heat up a bit with a 5:17 and a 5:34 for his next couple of miles.
The course began to flatten out a bit after that and Jacek went through the fifth mile in 5:35. The next mile was where he hit the sand dunes which slowed him down to a 6:12 for his sixth mile. Up till that point, his splits had virtually mirrored what he produced the previous year when he finished in 43:34. The game changer was the last mile and a half across the beach though.
The beach was more runnable this time and there wasn’t much wind. That led to a 5:28 followed by a half mile at 5:23 pace to finish with. It was outstanding show of strength from JC in the latter stages and crossing the line in an incredible time of 42:44, he’d done it. He’d cracked that long standing course record. It came as a bit of surprise to Jacek as he wasn’t really expecting to run so strongly, but he did, and that was great.
Unfortunately for Stu Nicholas, there was no one else in the field quick enough to outrun Stuart Holloway and he made it to the line in 45:45, confirming him as the Purbeck Trail Series winner. It was a well deserved win as well for Stuart, with his final score coming in at 1,498.
New Forest Runners man Phil Mosley took 3rd place at the Studland Stampede, clocking a time of 46:46 and Clive Kennedy-Burn got round in 47:49 to take 4th place. Unable to improve his Purbeck Trail Series scorecard, Lee Thomas came in in 5th place in a time of 48:17. He’d already secured 3rd place in the series.
Poole AC man Barry Miller took 6th place in 48:48 and Reece Ingram of City of Salisbury claimed 7th place in 49:01.
It wasn’t only JC who achieved something special on the day though. The women’s course record went as well. That had stood since 2005 but Purbeck Runners lady Anna Philps etched her name into the record books by making it round in 50:22, 28 seconds quicker than Sally Bingham managed in the previous record.
That put her 12th overall and meant Bournemouth AC star Emma Caplan had to settle for 2nd place female on this occasion. Her time of 52:46 was faster than the winning time of every other year except one, aside from this year and the 2005 one. It was an excellent run from Emma and put her 24th overall. Hayley Higham took the 3rd female spot in a time of 54:35 which put her in 35th place overall.
Rounding off the series well, Zak Preston completed the course in 55:36 which put him in 45th place. He found the sand dunes pretty tough going but felt it was worth it for the magnificent Purbeck views and the sea dip and free sauna he enjoyed afterwards. He was one of the 18 people who completed all five races in the series. He finished 20th in the series as a whole which was a pretty good result.
Finishing 2nd in the 70-79 category at the Studland Stampede, Geoff Newton completed the course in 1:03:22 and that put him in 124th place. That was over three minutes quicker than he managed in last year’s race so that was a very good result for Geoff. He was quite a way behind Purbeck Runners man Hamish Murray who was 56th in 57:19. Hamish topped the standings in the 70-79 division but he is much younger than Geoff.
Comfortably winning the M70 category for the series as a whole, Geoff‘s best three positions put him well ahead of Colin Smith of South West Veterans and Geoff Parrott of Westbourne who also completed the required amount of races.
As well as winning the Studland Stampede and claiming the course record, Anna Philps was 1st female in the Purbeck Trail Series, with her best three positions putting her 11th overall. That was 16 more points than her Purbeck Runners teammate Jenny Lee Marshall who was 2nd female and 13th overall.
Whilst it contains some very challenging races, the points based system over the course of the series gives runners a good incentive to get involved in these types of events. As a consequence, they test themselves to find out what they’re truly capable of. That was what Stu, Zak and Geoff did and they can each be proud of what they achieved when they look back on their performances.