Three Counties members travel to Brighton for two-day event

Three Counties Running Club members travelled to Brighton at the weekend to take part in the 10k and the full marathon events.

The Brighton Marathon Weekend is an annual festival of running spanning two days.

Up to 20,000 participants were expected over the two days across three events: the Brighton Miles, the Brighton and Hove 10K, and the Brighton Marathon.

This year marks the 15th edition of the Brighton Marathon, which has welcomed over 130,000 finishers since its inception in 2010.

It was a rather warm, sunny day, so the runners were hoping for a bit of a breeze off the shore.

Four club members took part in the 10k event. The first half of the race was quite hilly but levelled out more in the second half.

The race started east along the seafront, taking in some of the iconic landmarks, including the Pavilion, before heading west to Hove and back to the finish at Hove Lawns.

The runners had fantastic runs.

Times: Lauren Day 50:32 (CPB), Tracey Else 53:24 (CPB), with Sarah Melton-Whitelam and Steve Whitelam crossing the finish line together in a CPB 1:03:19.

The five club marathon runners have all been preparing and training hard for the past few months.

Nothing could prepare them for the heat as nearly all the training runs had been in colder conditions.

The route was hilly and warm and headed out towards Preston Park before going south into the city.

Passing the pavilion, it then headed towards the coast along the promenade before heading to Hove. The final miles were heading back along the coast with lots of support to the finish at Hove Lawns.

There were some fantastic runs and personal achievements for all members.

Frst home for the club Craig Freestone in 3:24:44 followed by Sarah Johnson, who smashed her previous marathon time by 56 minutes to gain a massive PB time of 4:13:58.

Debbie Agger ran her first official marathon and smashed it to finish in a fantastic PB of 4:27:37.

Tracy Adams was next to cross the line, finishing with a great time of 4:52:14.

Les Phillips was next to cross the line in a very well deserved time of 5:07:22.

Parkrun

King's Lynn: Daisy Green 28:04, Melvin Green 30:54.

Tilgate: Lesley Phillips 40:01.

Preston, Brighton: Sarah Melton-Whitelam 32:00, Steve Whitelam 32:01.

Armley: Jonny Clark 23:16, Jodie Clark 31:18.

Sandringham: Tabitha Cook 29:00, Hayley Cook 31:29.

Ben’s Yard Ely: Colin Apps 28:41, Joely Apps 34:29.

Wisbech: Matt Hunter 26:54, David Hammond 29:08, Anna Holland 29:34, Laura Vincent 31:37, Donna Johnson 33:52, Sally Fawkes 39:41.