Owing to a landslip, there was a new course this year for the athletes to get to grips with at The Beast. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending on which way you look at it, part of the mega flight of steps up Hounds Tout that the race used to be famed for had fallen into the sea. The diversion resulted in a shortening of the course and it was now 11.8 miles as opposed to 12.5ish.

Previously, after the slog up Hands Tout there had been a long, level section into Kingston Village. The new course meant a very slow drag up the road into Kingston and that was where Bournemouth AC Road Runners team captain Rich Nelson was waiting to cheer the runners on.

It still wasn’t an easy course by any stretch of the imagination though. The hills in The Beast are brutal, being both steep and long. And there’s plenty of them, with the new course still including an elevation gain of 1,800ft.

After finishing 2nd to his teammate Jacek Cieluszecki at the Lighthouse Loop, Stu Nicholas topped the standings in the Purbeck Trail Series so far. He won the first race of the series which was the Coombe Keynes 10k and after narrowly missing out on the series win last year he was determined to claim that crown this time round. Hence a good performance at The Beast was imperative.

Most likely looking to do all the races in the series this year, Geoff Newton was ready to tackle The Beast as well and doesn’t get phased by any of the tougher courses. He relishes the challenge and prefers to race very weekend if he can.

Starting off with a 6:48 for his first mile, Stu then followed it up with a very quick 6:16 split even though it was far from flat. The first really big hill came into play on the third mile and Stu worked his way up that in 8:37 before heading back down in the fourth mile for a 6:55. The fifth mile contained another incline but after that there was a long downhill stretch.

That led to a 6:35 and then a 6:33 before he then began the next big climb. Getting through the 7th mile in 9:04, there was then another very steep hill to tackle. It was on that mile that Stu managed to understeer into a load of brambles which resulted in a lot of pain and some blood as it they ripped some flesh off.

Stu did the only thing he could do in that circumstance though which was to pick himself up, dust himself down and carry on. He couldn’t afford to let that spoil what could have been a very good result. He had been in 2nd place but went down to 5th due the mishap.

After going through the eighth mile in 8:38, he registered a 6:56 for his ninth mile before tackling the last massive climb. Whilst others ahead of him struggled up the coast path steps, Stu was able to claw his way back up the field. Although the incline went on for virtually the whole mile, he still came out of it with a 7:42. The next mile was mostly downhill and he recorded a 6:59 for that one before finishing the last three quarters of a mile at 6:38 pace.

With that strong last four miles, Stu had managed to climb back up to to 2nd overall which was a tremendous performance. His finishing time was 1:26:44 and the only man who could better that was Egdon Heath Harriers star Chris Peck. He clocked a magnificent time of 1:25:23.

It turned that Stu had upset the applecart a bit as two more Egdon Heath Harriers men, Robert Welman and Matthew Underhill finished 3rd and 4th in times of 1:27:01 and 1:30:22.

Unattached runner Peter Rowatt was 5th in 1:31:56, with Daniel Thomas of Bridport Runners taking 6th in 1:32:33. David Brown of Purbeck Runners claimed 7th place in 1:32:44 and was 1st M50, with Poole AC man Luke Terry taking 8th in 1:33:59.

Finding the new course rather trying and not quite as enjoyable as the old one, Geoff got round in 2 hours 12 minutes and 1 second which put him in 158th position overall. That was four minutes quicker than he ran last year, although it was of course a little shorter and didn’t have that mammoth set the steps.

That made Geoff 3rd M70 behind Charles Fox of New Forest Runners who did it in 2:02:38 and his old nemesis Nick Brooke of Dorset Doddlers who completed the course in 2:02:53. They are both several years younger than Geoff though since he is close to the end of his 70’s.

Isobel Davis of Purbeck Runners was 1st female in a time of 1:36:10 which put her 13th overall. That was enough to see her come in a few minutes ahead of her teammate Anna Philps who was 2nd lady and 20th overall in 1:39:27.

Poppy Tanner of Southampton was 3rd woman, registering a time of 1:42:31 which put her 29th overall. Stu’s wife Anna finished 41st female and 181st overall in a time of 2:15:44 and that put her 19th in the W35 category.

That 2nd place finish ensured Stu stayed at the top of the table for the series so far with 1498 points. Jon Clemas of Twemlow Track Club is currently lying 2nd with 1479 points with Mark Peddle of Littledown Harriers in 3rd with 1478.

Geoff is top of the M70 standings so far after the first three races with his total of 1079 points. Ian Underwood is currently 2nd with 967 and Neil Luckett is 3rd with 688. It’s so far so good then for Geoff with just two races remaining as he looks to retain the title he won last year.

After banking a result in all three races thus far, Anna is currently 2nd in the Women’s Under 40 category with her total of 1110.

In the clubs table, Bournemouth AC are currently 9th with 2577 points. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s Westbourne RC who lead the way with 5144 points thus far. Dorchester RIOT are 2nd with 4710 and Poole Runners are 3rd with 4545.

Next up for Stu it was the Garmin New Forest Marathon and that event also featured Rob McTaggart in the 10K and Solly Abu-Ghaba in the 5K.

As he Geoff, his next race was the Butser Hill Challenge and in that race he finished as 1st M70 and 79th overall in a time of 51 minutes 19 seconds. That race entails running up and down the highest point in the South Downs National Park three times, taking a different route each time.

The evergreen James Baker won that one, as usual, clocking a time of 31 minutes 32 seconds. The man who pipped Stu to the post in last year’s Purbeck Trail Series, Stuart Holloway of City of Salisbury finished 2nd in 31:38.

In his younger days, uphill starts were a strength of Geoff’s. Now they they his biggest weakness, but after getting up that first hill he had great fun, especially on the death defying descents.

Geoff and Stu will be back in action again at the Black Hill Run 10k this coming weekend. That will be after Stu takes his place in a very strong looking Bournemouth AC team competing at the Southern Six Stage Road Relays in Aldershot. He’s even forgoing parkrun for the Road Relays so he must be taking it seriously!