How long does it take to run a marathon?… The answer to that question can depend on a number of contributing factors. What sort of training you’ve done, for instance could be one. The course profile could be another. The weather conditions on the day. There are so many variables. Perhaps the most important one of all though is the ability of the runner. Marathons generally uncover a runner’s true level as in a race of that distance, there’s nowhere to hide and no way of blagging it.

As one of the faster members of the Bournemouth AC fraternity, Stu Nicholas would usually expect to run a marathon in around 2 hours 40 minutes. That’s for a road marathon anyway. For a trail marathon it would be different. That would of course depend on how tough and hilly the route was. In most cases, he’d still usually be well under three hours.

Just before Christmas Stu won the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon in just under 2 hours 42 minutes. Then just before that he won the New Forest Xmas Trails 30k in just under 2 hours 16 minutes. After winning that, it seemed only right that he should enter another one of the BigFeat Events. That was what led him to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park for the BigMud Marathon.

The route for the BigMud Marathon included going up Butser Hill twice. Butser Hill is the highest point in the South Downs at 518ft and is as steep as they come. The rest of the course run is over the rolling trails of the South Downs National Park. It turned out to be very difficult. Way more difficult than Stu had actually envisaged.

There was 352ft of climbing to get through in the first mile, which Stu managed to get through in 8:55. The next few miles took him back down the slope so he was able to get some speed up on those before he once again had to work his way up Butser Hill.

There were a couple of other fairly sizeable climbs to get through in that first 11 miles. Another tough hill on the 18th mile was followed by a very steep one on mile 20 which put Stu down to 10:27 minutes per mile. The last 10k appeared to be quite brutal. Some sections of the course were so muddy that they were unrunnable.

Mile 23 took Stu 11 minutes and the next couple of miles were both about 10 minutes before he then hit the final massive incline. That was another 450ft of climbing to get through before the downhill finish. Stu took 12 minutes 36 seconds for the 26th mile. If it took Stu that long though, it doesn’t bare thinking about how long it would have taken everyone else in the race.

Reaching the finish line in 3 hours 49 minutes and 47 seconds, it certainly wasn’t up there with his fastest of marathons. In fact, he probably never thought he’d do one that would take him that long but he’d won the race and that was what really mattered. He’d completed the course in just over four minutes quicker than his nearest rival Dave Jones.

Dave was the only other man to get in in under four hours which shows how crazily tough the route was. Stu had covered 26.85 miles in the end at an average pace of 8:33 per mile. The elevation gain he’d racked up though was a whopping 3,641ft. It was a real workout if ever he’d had one.

Stu is very strong in trail races though, as his win in the Purbeck Trail Series last year showed. There are few men out there who can match him so it’s not a surprise that tends to win most off-road events he participates in.

His BigMud Marathon experience will certainly make his next road marathon seem much easier and much quicker so from that perspective, it could be real feather in his cap.