Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 76, November 2015 | Page 16

Ma

FEATURE

Stuart in 2015, still running
his beloved PUFfeR

had taken place the following week.
He’d loved it, and his enthusiasm (coupled
with a delectable red) prompted my
acceptance of his invitation.

– BY STUART PURCELL

I

t was a beautiful day – late winter in
Cape Town with not a cloud in sight,
the sun streaming down warmly, and
a stunning view from Table Mountain of
the city bowl and harbour at my feet. Life
couldn’t get better. I was lying in fourth
position in my favourite trail race, and I
could just cruise in to the finish in Cape
Town’s famous Waterfront in my own time.
But then things went horribly wrong…

I’d first been coerced into running by Jon
Cane, a natural runner who never struggled

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to run up even the toughest hills. As a result
of his persistent nagging, I ended up doing
a few Peninsula Marathons and Two Oceans
Marathons, and then one day in 1996, a mad
trail runner by the name of Phil Struckman
‘gave’ me an entry to that year’s PUFfeR.
He explained that he had participated in the
inaugural running of the 80km challenge the
previous year, along with 18 other nutters,
that it had been postponed by a week
because there was too much snow on Table
Mountain and the weather conditions were
too severe, that a few of them had gone up
anyway to check it out, and that the race

ISSUE 76 NOVEMBER 2015 / www.modernathlete.co.za

So along came my eighth PUFfeR in 2007,
with some solid off-road training under
the belt. I loved the Fisherman’s Trail
Challenge and nearly died on the Hout Bay
Trail Challenge, but was feeling really great
about my progress and fitness. The Saturday
morning of the race dawned cool but not

Images: Courtesy Stuart Purcell

In light of the fact that I ran my 11th PUFfeR (Peninsula Ultra Fun Run 80km)
from Cape Point to the Waterfront in August, finishing in 12:26:35, I thought
I’d share my story about the horrific accident I had on the day of the race
eight years ago in 2007, when I tried to take a short-cut down the mountain.

I took part, in various stages of fitness, for
the following three years, taking enormous
strain with the distance, but the awesome
terrain blew me away and I was addicted,
convincing a few other people to take part.
I took a few years’ break from running for
various personal reasons, including some
niggling injuries, but when I eventually
got back into the running groove, my
times over the longer distance seemed
to have improved with age. Experience
counts, obviously, and I was enjoying the
running more, as my PUFfer position and
time improved with each run. I finished in
seventh position on two occasions, with my
best result being sixth in 2006, and from
taking over 12 hours to complete the race
in 1996 to 1998, I was now able to finish in
less than nine hours.