Brighton Marathon

Brighton Marathon
Runners during the first Brighton Marathon in 2010
LocationBrighton and Hove, United Kingdom
Event typeRoad
DistanceMarathon
Established2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Course recordsMen: 2:09:25 (William Chebor, 2014)
Women: 2:28:50 (Eunice Kales, 2013)
Official siteBrightonmarathonweekend.co.uk
Inaugural finisher's medal, 2010
Finisher's medal from 2018

The Brighton Marathon is an annual marathon in Brighton and Hove, England. It was first held on 18 April 2010 and has usually been held in April every year since.[1] The inaugural Brighton Marathon was set up by former international athlete Tim Hutchings and local athlete Tom Naylor.[2]

History

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The first Brighton Marathon took place on 18 April 2010. The race opened to 12,000 entries, with 7,589 participating on race day. The course start line was at Preston Park. The route took in some of the sights of central Brighton before heading East towards Rottingdean. The race then headed west out to and around Hove, before returning on the seafront and finishing on Madeira Drive, close to Brighton Pier.

In Year 2 (April 2011), over 8,000 runners took part with spectator numbers estimated at around 120,000. The race has acquired the status of "Britain's No. 2 marathon", after the London Marathon, for its profile in the national running arena, for its standard of race organisation and for the publicity generated by the event.[citation needed] More than two hundred charities had runners in the 2011 event and this demand has led to an increase from 3,000 to 5,000 in the number of places being offered to charities in 2012.

The 2012 event saw a 20% increase on entries to an acceptance of 18,000, putting it in the top 12 running events in the UK. In September 2011, The Brighton Marathon was granted coveted Bronze Medal status by the World governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).[3][4][5]

The 2020 in-person edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[6][7][b]

Similarly, the 2021 edition of the race, originally scheduled for April, was postponed to 12 September due to the pandemic, with many registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2022 or obtaining a full refund.[11][12][13] An error in setup led to the 2021 course being 568m too long, which affected the final result of the men's race when winner Neil McClements overtook Ollie Garrod, who had led the whole way, in the last 100m of the course.[14][15]

In September 2022, event organisers Grounded Events Company Limited (Grounded Events) were critisied by a number recent winners of the marathon over not being paid their prize money.[16]

In November 2022, Grounded Events filed for administration, with the company being about £1.2million in debt.[17] FRP were appointed as administrators. The company was bought by London Marathon Events (LME) the next month, with Brighton & Hove City Council granting a five year licence to operate the event until at least 2027. The 2023 edition of the race went ahead as planned, with the event being added to LME's portfolio of events, that also includes the London Marathon, Ride London and Swim Serpentine.[18][19]

Results

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The first Men's Elite Race in 2010 was won by Mongolian runner Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od with a time of 2:19:05. Between 2011 and 2014, the Men's Elite Race course record was broken consecutively by Kenyans Philemon Boit, Peter Kimeli Some, Dominic Kangor and William Chebor. In 2014, Chebor set the current record with a time of 2:09:25. Kenyan Duncan Maiyo is the most successful athlete with back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016. In both races, he was less than a minute over the course record. In 2017, Stuart Hawkes became the first English winner and first European winner in the Men's Elite Race with a time of 2:27:36.

The first Women's Elite Race, also in 2010, was won by Briton Joanna Bryce in 3:05:20. The course record was broken for three consecutive years by Alyson Dixon, Sviatlana Kouhan and Eunice Kales. Kouhan became the first non-British winner with a time of 2:41:22 in 2012, and Kales became the first non-European winner in 2013 with a time of 2:28:50 – the current course record. Alice Milgo, Pennina Wanjiru and Grace Momanyi all continued the success for Kenya in the following years, while Lishan Dula became the first Asian athlete to finish in the top three with her second-place finish in 2015. Helen Davies became the first Briton to win in six years with a time of 2:42:40 in 2017, and he retained the win in 2018 with an improved time of 2:38:41.

Elite race winners

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Men

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Year Winner Runner-Up Third Place Notes
2010 Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od  Mongolia 2:19:05 Michael Coleman  United Kingdom 2:24:38 Christopher Thomson  United Kingdom 2:29:54 Course record
2011 Philemon Boit  Kenya 2:16:07 Richard Rotich  Kenya 2:16:32 Anbessy Tolossa  Ethiopia 2:16:54 Course record
2012 Peter Kimeli Some  Kenya 2:12:03 Dominic Pius Ondoro  Kenya 2:12:10 John Kelai  Kenya 2:12:44 Course record
2013 Dominic Kangor  Kenya 2:10:46 Bernard Rotich  Kenya 2:10:51 Robert Mwangi  Kenya 2:11:26 Course record
2014 William Chebor  Kenya 2:09:25 Dominic Kangor  Kenya 2:09:36 Wilfred Murgor  Kenya 2:12:17 Course record
2015 Duncan Maiyo  Kenya 2:10:15 Dominic Kangor  Kenya 2:11:52 Mutai Kipkemei  Kenya 2:14:41
2016 Duncan Maiyo  Kenya 2:09:51 Raymond Chemungor  Kenya 2:10:50 Edwin Kiptoo  Kenya 2:11:23
2017 Stuart Hawkes  United Kingdom 2:27:36 Ollie Garrod  United Kingdom 2:31:32 Jon Pepper  United Kingdom 2:31:56
2018 Stuart Hawkes  United Kingdom 2:22:33 Dan Nash  United Kingdom 2:22:55 Kevin Rojas  United Kingdom 2:23:54
2019 Peter Le Grice  United Kingdom 2:16:23 Paul Navesey  United Kingdom 2:18:17 Ian Leitch  United Kingdom 2:18:34
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[6]
2021 Neil McClements  United Kingdom 2:33:45 Ollie Garrod  United Kingdom 2:34:02 Mark Innocenti  United Kingdom 2:35:49 Course 568m too long.[15]
2022 Alix Ramsier  United Kingdom 2:29:08 Ben Holmes  United Kingdom 2:29:26 Will Green  United Kingdom 2:30:02
2023 Marshall Smith  United Kingdom 2:24:07 Barney Reed  United Kingdom 2:36:16 Axel Finke  Germany 2:36:44
2024 Oliver Knowles  United Kingdom 2:32:27 Matthew Alderson  United Kingdom 2:32:45 James Cook  United Kingdom 2:36:19

Women

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Year Winner Runner-Up Third Place Notes
2010 Joanna Bryce  United Kingdom 3:05:20 Cathy Ulliott  United Kingdom 3:05:42 Louisa Ruderman  United Kingdom 3:13:50 Course record
2011 Alyson Dixon  United Kingdom 2:34:51 Lucy MacAlister  United Kingdom 2:40:35 Julie Briscoe  United Kingdom 2:41:09 Course record
2012 Sviatlana Kouhan  Belarus 2:29:37 Irene Chepkirui  Kenya 2:33:55 Holly Rush  United Kingdom 2:41:22 Course record
2013 Eunice Kales  Kenya 2:28:50 Alyson Dixon  United Kingdom 2:31:10 Frashiah Waithaka  Kenya 2:33:31 Course record
2014 Alice Milgo  Kenya 2:35:33 Selam Abere  Ethiopia 2:36:37 Rebecca Robinson  United Kingdom 2:37:41
2015 Pennina Wanjiru  Kenya 2:34:25 Lishan Dula  Bahrain 2:34:55 Eunice Kales  Kenya 2:53:50
2016 Grace Momanyi  Kenya 2:34:11 Asnakech Mengistu  Ethiopia 2:35:37 Pennina Wanjiru  Kenya 2:43:32
2017 Helen Davies  United Kingdom 2:42:40 Hayley Munn  United Kingdom 2:46:00 Helen Buller  United Kingdom 2:51:22
2018 Helen Davies  United Kingdom 2:38:41 Sarah Webster  United Kingdom 2:49:02 Sara Bird  United Kingdom 2:52:21
2019 Helen Davies  United Kingdom 2:34:08 Jill Collett  United Kingdom 2:48:16 Johanna O'Regan  United Kingdom 2:49:41
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[6]
2021 Verity Hopkins  United Kingdom 2:52:12 Amy Harris  United Kingdom 3:04:28 Lauren Reid  Canada 3:09:32 Course 568m too long.[15]
2022 Melissah Gibson  Australia 2:51:07 Ania Gabb  United Kingdom 2:52:44 Sarah Hanley  United Kingdom 2:56:01
2023 Helen Reid  United Kingdom 2:55:11 Lucy Barnes  United Kingdom 2:56:10 Fay Hughes  United Kingdom 2:56:42
2023 Hannah McGowan-Jones  United Kingdom 2:54:43 Victoria Cartmell  United Kingdom 3:03:55 Annie Soper  United Kingdom 3:04:59

Incidents

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23-year-old Sam Harper Brighouse died during the 2013 race after collapsing in Grand Avenue and being taken to hospital.[20][21] The inquest ruled he died of bowel ischemia and a gastro-intestinal haemorrhage, brought on by an idiosyncratic reaction to hyperthermia, dehydration, endurance exertion, hyperosmolar sports supplements and ibuprofen.[22][23] The coroner stated Harper Brighouse's preparations for the race were appropriate.[24]

Notes

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  1. ^ The race was intended to complement a distance of 20 miles (32 km), completed virtually by the runner prior to the event, in order to sum up to the marathon distance.[8]
  2. ^ It had initially been postponed to 20 September 2020, and then converted into a 10K run[a] to be held on 11 October 2020, before being cancelled.[9][10][8][6]

References

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  1. ^ "About the Event". www.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk. Brighton Marathon Weekend. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ^ Bannister, Mike (26 January 2016). "Olympian, Founder of Brighton Marathon". RunBrighton. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  3. ^ "The Brighton Marathon, London by the Sea"[usurped], http://www.brightonmarathon.co.uk/, 18 April 2010
  4. ^ Steve Hollis "Olympian wins inaugural Brighton Marathon", http://www.theargus.co.uk, 18 April 2010
  5. ^ D.D. Guttenplan "Brighton marathon a match for Boston", The Guardian (Comment is Free), 20 April 2010
  6. ^ a b c d "Brighton Marathon Weekend | the Edit Cancellation Statement | Brighton Marathon Weekend". www.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Brighton Marathon's substitute 10km event called off over coronavirus concerns". 25 September 2020. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020.
  8. ^ a b "The edit | Brighton Marathon Weekend". www.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  9. ^ "POSTPONEMENT INFORMATION 2021 | Brighton Marathon Weekend". Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  10. ^ "2020 Brighton Marathon and BM10k Update | Brighton Marathon Weekend". Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  11. ^ "POSTPONEMENT INFORMATION 2021 | Brighton Marathon Weekend". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020.
  12. ^
  13. ^ "Marathon postponed for third time as organiser calls for events industry support". Archived from the original on 22 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Brighton Marathon organisers apologise over course that was too long". BBC News. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "Close finish and controversy as Brighton Marathon returns". AW. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Brighton Marathon organisers apologise to runners who have not been paid prize money". The Argus. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  17. ^ "Company behind Brighton Marathon to be sold in bid to secure future of event". The Argus. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  18. ^ Paton, Caitlin (23 December 2022). "Brighton Marathon saved as Grounded Events is acquired out of administration". FRP Advisory. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Our other events". vitalitylondon10000.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  20. ^ "Young runner dies after collapsing during marathon". The Argus. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  21. ^ Smith, Vicky (15 April 2013). "Sam Harper Brighouse: Charity cash and tributes pour in for runner who died during Brighton Marathon". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  22. ^ "Runner Sam Brighouse died after 'ibuprofen and supplements'". BBC News. BBC. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Supplements reaction killed Brighton Marathon runner, inquest rules". The Argus. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Runner Sam Brighouse died after 'ibuprofen and supplements'". BBC News. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
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50°49′09″N 0°08′00″W / 50.8192°N 0.1333°W / 50.8192; -0.1333

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