Race Report - Studland Stampede 12k
Not far now! Paul crosses the beach.
Sun, sand and nudists! Bug member Paul reports on the Studland Stampede, a 12k race along the beautiful Dorset coast.
Date: 14th September 2008
Weather: Sunny, light breeze
The Studland Stampede is a 12K run starting, not surprisingly, at Studland Bay in Dorset. It starts on the beach up onto heath land, climbing up to Aggleston Rock.
More running along heath land and gravel tracks brings you back to the sand dunes for a run through them to the beach back to the start.
I was running with 8 colleagues using it as training for the Royal Marines Commando Challenge. It was well accepted that I’d be the last one in! In all there were about 240 entries.
Parking was free in the ample National Trust Knoll Beach car park, and the registration desk just outside the NT visitors centre. Numbers and pins and late entries were all done here with a minimum of fuss.
The start was on the beach at 10am. The organizers described the course markers then away we went.
The Studland Stampede 12k course
The Race
The first part was a run along the beach. Once up onto the heath it was evident it wasn’t going to be easy. The previous few days of rain had turned the ground into soft boggy puddles. I feared for my shiny white road running trainers!!
The run seemed at times to be a skipping event, trying to find the hard dry bits between the puddles.
A couple of misses and muddy feet later this soon changed. The track up to Agglestone Rock was quite steep and single file, so walking here was inevitable. To be honest I don’t think I could have bounded up it any faster.
From here the course was more down hill and flat. After crossing a stile we found the water station, about 6km in. Bowls of jelly beans were also on offer. Tempting as it was to steal the bowl from the child holding it, I carried on.
Eventually we came to a road crossing; this then started the lead into the sand dunes.
This was the toughest part of the course. The sand was soft and deep and had been churned up quite nicely by the preceding runners. It was in a kind of gulley about a foot deep, so it was nigh impossible to run at the edge as the camber was so steep.
Rounding the corner at the end of the spit, we came back onto the beach for the final straight. This part also cut through the nudist beach, and yes there were a few… waving?!?! The sand here was quite compacted so good to run on.
Eventually the finish line appeared and I crossed it in 1hr 17mins, coming 205th. The fastest of the day was 43mins 19 seconds. Water and Twix bars were waiting after the medal collection.
The course was well signposted and marshaled at tricky parts. The only criticism is that the start announcements were just shouted out and a bit difficult to hear, which is so minor it barely deserves a mention.
Would I do it again…? Hell yes. It was great fun and hard, and next time I hope to be fitter so I get to see the stunning views of Poole Harbour, rather than looking at the floor.
For details - www.getoffyourarseandrun.com
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