There were contrasting weather and underfoot conditions for the upgraded and extended Beachy Head Marathon weekend of races promoted by Eastbourne Borough Council’s Visit Eastbourne Events Team on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October.

The race photo features Beachy Head Marathon competitor Howard Nevill (#2090) at the head of a pack tackling the tough climb onto the South Downs Way just after the start outside Bede's School on Duke's Drive, Eastbourne. Conditions on Saturday were clearly good, with sunshine and dry ground as Howard powered to 226th position in 4:47:54.

The image shows the combined Marathon and newly introduced 52K Ultra race starting with 1,193 marathon finishers in 10:13:41 and exactly 200 ultra runners home in 8:45:55. Shortly after the long-distance race starts the 10K 'sprinters' were off, with 359 finishing in 2:10:41. You can enjoy a few of Saturday's highlights in this race video...

The following morning (Sunday 23rd October) storm clouds had gathered and overnight rain had made keeping upright a challenge for the 644 runners who completed Beachy Head Half Marathon in 4:12:19 – as colourfully described on Facebook by Chris Terrill: "Brilliantly organised race. Top marks too for organising some terrifically challenging conditions. How you timed the lightning storm to coincide so perfectly with the coastal run along the Beachy Head cliff tops was inspired! Seriously though - very well organised and the marshals were great all the way round - helpful and ever encouraging."

The Ultra winners were M40 Neil Kirby (4:04:53) and W35 Josephine Nye (4:47:20) as 13 runners completed the 52K/31-mile course with 4,457 feet of elevation gain inside five hours. The Marathon was won in a stunning 2:48:29 by Tom Evans – the only runner inside three hours. W35 Becky Atkinson (3:35:16) is the new women's marathon champion on the regular course that climbs a mere 3,711 feet!

The 10K race is the perfect introduction to trail running and this year's trophy winners are M40 Thomas Grimes (39:26) and W35 Shantel Redfern (45:37). Only the overall winner beat 40 minutes and there were 20 finishers inside 50 minutes despite more than 1,000 feet of ascent.

The huge thunderstorm and lightning that brightened up leaden skies for the half marathon on Sunday morning did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of either the competitors or those wonderful volunteer marshals. The new title holders at 13.1 miles / 1,600 feet gained are M40 Trevor Sexton (1:27:28) and fifth-placed Amy Harris (1:31:50). 

Full results are available via runABC South race listing here

Image and video courtesy Beachy Head Marathon on Facebook