BLUE SKIES and sunshine welcomed 7,427 runners to the 22nd edition of the Brighton Half Marathon, which took place on Sunday (19 February).
However, the race organisers have admitted they got the distance of the course wrong.
Competitors taking part in the City’s half marathon were expecting to run the standard 13.1 miles, but the route was nearly a third of a mile longer.
The organisers admitted on Monday (20 February) that due to "human error" whilst laying the route, the course was accidently lengthened to 13.42 miles.
Runners pointed the error out to organisers after their electronic training devices showed that they had run further than course should have allowed.
The race organisers have now issued an apology to the thousands of runners who took part.
Becky Stevens, the director of the Brighton Half Marathon, said: "The barriers that were put out for the turn at the end at Roedean, between miles four and five, were unfortunately put slightly in the wrong place."
Ms Stevens said the roads were closed ten minutes before the race started.
She explained: "We don't really have the luxury of going round and checking everything.
“We take full responsibility for this human error and would like to issue our most sincere apologies to all the runners who experienced disappointment over this.
“We have taken all feedback into account; we will be implementing some new additional measures ready for the 2013 race to prevent this from happening again.”
The Brighton Half Marathon has been growing steadily over the last couple of years and the 2012 race sold-out in record time with all 10,500 places snapped up by 18 November 2011.
Famous faces spotted in the crowd included Katie Price and local DJ Norman Cook, known as Fatboy Slim.
With David Wardle not present to defend his title from the previous two years, Matthew Dumigan from Swansea Harriers crossed the line first. Ian Leitch from Phoenix AC came second, followed by Josh Guilmant.
Local runner Fiona Powell from Brighton & Hove City AC managed to pull off the hat-trick and won her third consecutive title in the race. Runner up and first in the F40 category was Julie Briggs from Arena 80 AC, with Sarah Kingston from Fittleworth Flyers taking third place.
Kat Williams, CEO of The Sussex Beacon commented: “What an amazing day with a great atmosphere and brilliant sunshine shining down on all our runners. This is a record year for the number of runners taking part and we are very proud of everyone who was involved with the race.”
Runners times have now been amended with the extra distance taken into account – please go to www.brightonhalfmarathon.com to find your time.
Article courtesy of Love Brighton, the free weekly paper for Brighton and Hove.
