Thousands of runners turned out for the Brighton Half Marathon, the largest fundraising event for the Sussex Beacon, on Sunday, March 2 in beautiful conditions, running 13.1 miles around the city. The event kicked off at 9.27am with the Wheelchair Race, followed by the main race at 9.30am, all start
Lead Pic by Hannah Mornement
Thousands of runners turned out for the Brighton Half Marathon, the largest fundraising event for the Sussex Beacon, on Sunday, March 2 in beautiful conditions, running 13.1 miles around the city. The event kicked off at 9.27am with the Wheelchair Race, followed by the main race at 9.30am, all started by comedian and actor Joe Wilkinson.
In the wheelchair race, Josh Hickinbottom took first place with a super-fast time of 57 minutes and 24 seconds. In the men’s race, Seyfu Jamaal smashed the course record with a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 30 seconds; second place went to Ed Shepherd, who came home in at 1 hour 7 minutes and 53 seconds; third place went to Hugh Sadler who finished in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
The women’s race was won by Christa Cain, finishing in 1 hour, 16 minutes and 19 seconds, followed by Rachel Laurie in exactly 1 hour 18 minutes. Third place went to Ruby Whyte-Wilding with a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 21 seconds.
Alongside the elite field, thousands of charity runners took to the streets of the city, including Stuart Taylor, 45 from Lancing, who ran the race wearing a karaoke speaker backpack and singing the whole way round to raise money for WaterAid; Soph Cheesman, 31 and Hannah Brown, 32 from Brighton who broke the Guinness World Record running the race three-legged in a staggering time of 1 hour and 48 minutes; and finally Carmen Somerset, 40 and Daniel Creed, 44 from Hove who ran the race the morning after their wedding party!
Brighton-based HIV charity, the Sussex Beacon, is the owner of the race. The event is the charity’s biggest fundraiser every year and is essential to help fund the charity’s services. The race typically raises over £1 million for charities across Sussex and the UK every year.
Rachel Brett, CEO of the Sussex Beacon, said: “What a wonderful day, such an incredible atmosphere! Thank you to all the runners, our sponsors, the charities, the supporters, and the fantastic volunteers who make the event possible! We hope to see you all next year!”
Martin Harrigan, Race Director of the Brighton Half Marathon, added: “Such a fantastic day! We could not have asked for better weather and the support around the course has been amazing!
“It is incredible to have had the course record smashed by Seyfu Jamaal in the men’s race but all of the runners have been incredible! Thank you also to all the sponsors, supporters and finally, our amazing volunteers who gave up their Sunday morning to support us, we really couldn’t do it without you!”
