When they go away somewhere, Stu Nicholas and his wife Anna invariably find a race of some sort to take part in. More often than not it’s an off-road event of some sort as they like to venture off the beaten track and sample some scenic countryside. That can sometimes mean they end up tackling some rough and tough terrain and some sumptuous slopes.

This time they’d gone to Devon to see some friends and found an event called the Feighan Fury 10 Mile Trail Race. It was a challenging multi-terrain route featuring a wooded trail along a river, some boggy marshland and lots of steep, hilly fields.

The race was created in honour of man named Mike Feighan who was a much loved member of the running community in the Devon area. He worked in mental health and promoted running as a mental health benefit.

Spending a lot of his time coaching and encouraging others in physical pursuits, Mike was a very talented running in his own right, winning the legendary Grizzly 20 mile race five times along with countless other races.

Mike tragically passed away in 2021 and his missed greatly by all who knew him. His friends from the running community decided that he needed to be immortalised in some sort of way, hence the Feighan Fury 10 Mile Trail Race was born.

Stu had recorded a convincing win in his last trail race which was the BigMud Marathon staged in Queen Elizabeth Country Park. The route incorporated two climbs up Butser Hill which is the highest point of the South Downs.

In that one he worked his way up 3,641ft of elevation over the 26.85 mile distance and finished in just under 3 hours 50 minutes. Even Stu was reduced to walking pace at times during that race which showed just how tough it was.

The first mile of the Feighan Fury race was all downhill which made for a fast start for Stu. Registering a 6:09 split for his first mile, he then went on to record a 6:40 for his second mile which was where the climbing started.

There was a steep incline at the beginning of the third mile before it levelled out and then had a nice downhill stretch for follow which Stu took full advantage of. He got through that mile in 7:17 before hitting a long incline that went on the whole of the fourth mile.

Still managing to register a 7:29 for that one, there was then another downhill stretch before Stu began to embark on a very big climb which took him to the end of the fifth mile.

That one had put him down to 8:36 for the split before he then came back down the hill on the sixth mile. After that there was a very long dome of a hill that went all the way through the seventh mile and into a bit of the eighth mile.

Registering a 7:51 for his sixth mile, Stu did well to get through the seventh mile in 7:30 before he could start to head back down the dome on his eighth mile. Clocking a 6:21 for that one, he then dropped all the way back down on his ninth mile before tacking the final massive incline in the last three quarters of a mile.

It would be a tough finish that knocked Stu down to nine minute mile pace. Concluding the race in 1 hour 12 minutes and 7 seconds, Stu had finished in fifth place in the overall standings. That was out of field of 147 runners.

You get some very strong athletes in the Devon area though and Alex Sparks of Teignbridge Trotters completed the course in a time of 1:05:48, which was 6 minutes 19 seconds ahead of Stu. To be able to finish that far ahead of Stu he must be a seriously good runner.

Chris Hewitt of Tiverton Harriers was second in 1:07:07 and Michael Lesniak of South Molton Strugglers was third in 1:09:24.

Lucy MacAlister of Bristol and West AC was first female and she finished 12th overall in a time of 1:20:19.

Anna did well to complete the course in 1:47:53 and that put her in 89th position overall and she was 17th placed female.

If Stu says he found a race tough then that certainly means it was brutal. Not really knowing the area or the terrain kept him guessing throughout the race as he didn’t really know what was coming next. It was also quite warm on the day as well.

The elevation gain was 1,500ft over the 9.75 mile distance so that gives a good indication of the severity of the climbs and Stu likened it to ‘The Beast’ from the Purbeck Trail Series, which shows just challenging it was.

Next up for Stu was the Salisbury 10 race in the Hampshire Road Race League where he would be looking to spearhead the charge for another First Division team win to boost Bournemouth AC’s chances of becoming league champions.