A lovely photo (above) has emerged from last Sunday's Brighton Half Marathon (26 February) reported on here at runABC South. Just bask in the unconfined joy of a father and son's finish line embrace and imagine the shared pride in their achievements as we explain the story.

The image to the left shows proud father Craig Mills hugging his son Cal Mills who had finished 11 minutes 33 seconds earlier as the outright winner of the Brighton Half Marathon in a PB 1:06:37 (5:01/mile pace). On the right, we see the tousle-haired Leeds University student with his trophy.

Cal had a field of 7,109 finishers behind him, including his M45 age category father who ran an impressive 1:18:10 – or better than 6min/mile pace – for 64th overall and 14th male over 40 to finish.

The Mills often run their miles together near their home in Harrogate and neither was too serious until the Covid-19 lockdown landed and changed so many lives forever. In the Mills' case, it became an extension of their joint ventures in local parkruns.

Both started running in 2018 and Cal quickly progressed at Harrogate parkrun from 19:41 in 2018 to 16:34 in 2021, with a parkrun best of 15:54 at Fountains Abbey last year. Meanwhile, dad Craig followed a similar trajectory at Harrogate (21:56/2018 to 19:22/2022) with a best of 17:46 at Keswick this year.

As Cal improved he moved on from Leeds University Cross Country Club to join the powerful Leeds City AC – English National Cross Country team champions this year – while Craig has remained a member of Nidd Valley Road Runners.

Craig ran the tough Boston Marathon in 3:06:42 last April and enjoyed a 10K PB of 36:28 in Brighton just over three months ago, although Brighton represents his official debut at the half marathon distance and bodes well for a future sub-three-hour marathon.

Cal is marginally more experienced at the longer distances with 55:26 in the Guy Fawkes 10 miles at Harrogate in 2021 and a double in 2022 of 1:09:16 in the Manchester Half Marathon and 2:40:20 in the Therme Manchester Marathon.

The Mills' results in Brighton on Sunday generated considerable interest on social media with many asking if their joint effort was some sort of record. Not so – the official Guinness World Record for a father and son in a half marathon is held by British athletes Matt (1:02:57) and Andrew Leach (1:11:10) with a combined time of 2:14:07 in the Houston Half Marathon, USA, on 19 January 2020. Both are still active and successful runners with Bedford & County AC.

Image courtesy Craig Mills via Facebook