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. The inaugural Brighton Marathon was set up by former international athlete Tim Hutchings and local athlete Tom Naylor.

History 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. 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)., http://www.brightonmarathon.co.uk/, 18 April 2010Steve Hollis "Olympian wins inaugural Brighton Marathon", http://www.theargus.co.uk, 18 April 2010D.D. Guttenplan "Brighton marathon a match for Boston", The Guardian (Comment is Free), 20 April 2010

The 2020 in-person edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Similarly, the 2021 edition of the race, originally scheduled for April, was postponed to due to the pandemic, with many registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2022 or obtaining a full refund. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025046/https://2021.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk/2021-postponement-options/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025051/https://2021.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk/general-entry-options/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025050/https://2021.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk/general-entry-defer-options/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025048/https://2021.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk/charity-entry-options/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201022025048/https://2021.brightonmarathonweekend.co.uk/member-options/

In September 2022, event organisers Grounded Events Company Limited was criticised by a number of podium finishers of the marathon over not being paid their prize money.

In November 2022, Grounded Events filed for administration, with the company being about £1.2million in debt. FRP was appointed as administrator. 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 which also includes the London Marathon, Ride London and Swim Serpentine.

Results 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 Men +YearWinnerRunner-UpThird PlaceNotes2010Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od2:19:05Michael Coleman2:24:38Christopher Thomson2:29:54Course record2011Philemon Boit2:16:07Richard Rotich2:16:32Anbessy Tolossa2:16:54Course record2012Peter Kimeli Some2:12:03Dominic Pius Ondoro2:12:10John Kelai2:12:44Course record2013Dominic Kangor2:10:46Bernard Rotich2:10:51Robert Mwangi2:11:26Course record2014William Chebor2:09:25Dominic Kangor2:09:36Wilfred Murgor2:12:17Course record2015Duncan Maiyo2:10:15Dominic Kangor2:11:52Mutai Kipkemei2:14:412016Duncan Maiyo2:09:51Raymond Chemungor2:10:50Edwin Kiptoo2:11:232017Stuart Hawkes2:27:36Ollie Garrod2:31:32Jon Pepper2:31:562018Stuart Hawkes2:22:33Dan Nash2:22:55Kevin Rojas2:23:542019Peter Le Grice2:16:23 Paul Navesey2:18:17Ian Leitch2:18:34 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic2021Neil McClements2:33:45Ollie Garrod2:34:02Mark Innocenti2:35:49Course 568m too long.2022Alix Ramsier2:29:08Ben Holmes2:29:26Will Green2:30:022023Marshall Smith2:24:07Barney Reed2:36:16Axel Finke2:36:442024Oliver Knowles2:32:27Matthew Alderson2:32:45James Cook2:36:192025Sam Cook2:26:47Thomas Blunt2:34:04Hugh Porter2:35:072026Sam Cook2:25:04Ryan Deakin2:29:48Aaron Hudson2:31:59

Women YearWinnerRunner-UpThird PlaceNotes2010Joanna Bryce3:05:20Cathy Ulliott3:05:42Louisa Ruderman3:13:50Course record2011Alyson Dixon2:34:51Lucy MacAlister2:40:35Julie Briscoe2:41:09Course record2012Sviatlana Kouhan2:29:37Irene Chepkirui2:33:55Holly Rush2:41:22Course record2013Eunice Kales2:28:50Alyson Dixon2:31:10Frashiah Waithaka2:33:31Course record2014Alice Milgo2:35:33Selam Abere2:36:37Rebecca Robinson2:37:412015Pennina Wanjiru2:34:25Lishan Dula2:34:55Eunice Kales2:53:502016Grace Momanyi2:34:11Asnakech Mengistu2:35:37Pennina Wanjiru2:43:322017Helen Davies2:42:40Hayley Munn2:46:00Helen Buller2:51:222018Helen Davies2:38:41Sarah Webster2:49:02Sara Bird2:52:212019Helen Davies2:34:08Jill Collett2:48:16Johanna O'Regan2:49:41 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic2021Verity Hopkins2:52:12Amy Harris3:04:28Lauren Reid3:09:32Course 568m too long.2022Melissah Gibson2:51:07Ania Gabb2:52:44Sarah Hanley2:56:012023Helen Reid2:55:11Lucy Barnes2:56:10Fay Hughes2:56:422024Hannah McGowan-Jones2:54:43Victoria Cartmell3:03:55Annie Soper3:04:592025Helen Reid2:52:58Flaminia Gold2:54:44Emily Marchant2:55:412026Amy Harris2:49:38Flaminia Gold2:51:42Lucy Lavender2:53:56

Incidents 23-year-old Sam Harper Brighouse died during the 2013 race after collapsing in Grand Avenue and being taken to hospital. 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. The coroner stated Harper Brighouse's preparations for the race were appropriate.

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.

Notes

References

External links

, archived from 2008

News article at The Argus