The Rubix VT Brighton Half Marathon returns for the 34th year at 9:30am on Sunday 25th February 2024. One of the first major half marathons in the running calendar, the Brighton Half Marathon is also one of the most popular races in the UK with up to 10,000 participants.

A small group of individuals started the race back in the early 1990s and money raised from the first event was used to help fund the building of The Sussex Beacon, the local charity which organises the race. Today, Brighton Half Marathon is the biggest annual fundraising event for the charity, which provides specialist support and care for people living with HIV. 

The course on Brighton's famous seafront is a swift one as the course records will attest: 1:04:56 by Paul Navesey (City of Portsmouth AC) in 2019 and 1:17:55 by Phillipa Williams (Hallamshire Harriers) in 2020.

This year's champions in the self-styled 'Happy Half' were Cal Mills (Leeds City AC) in 1:06:37 and Charlotte Ragan (Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC) in 1:18:24. The top seven were under 70 mins; four women beat 80 mins and there were 7,117 finishers inside four hours. 

From the start close to Brighton Palace Pier the route hugs the seafront promenade passing Brighton Marina, Sealife Centre, Royal Pavilion, British Airways i360 Observation Tower, Hove Beach Huts and Hove Lagoon.

The organisers are delighted to welcome TV personality James Argent ('Arg'); actor and model Connor Swindells; comedian and TV presenter, Zoe Lyons and DS Chris Oliver from Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins who are all running the Brighton Half Marathon in support of their chosen charities.      

In addition to general entry places, runners can also secure a place on the start line to support many charities including headline partner The Sussex Beacon, plus over 30 local and national charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, Alzheimer’s Society, Taylor-Made Dreams, Grassroots Suicide Prevention, Say Aphasia and Rockinghorse. Brighton Half Marathon raises over £1 million for charities across Sussex and the UK each year.

Rubix VT Brighton Half Marathon also features a wheelchair race, a 1-mile youth race, and new for next year, a charity relay race. Announcing the new headline sponsor, Race Director Martin Harrigan said: “It’s incredibly exciting to announce that Rubix VT will be our new headline sponsor for the next three years. I know Nick and the team at Rubix VT have a real passion for running and have shown their support for a range of community initiatives across Sussex – values which we, as an event owned by a charity, find incredibly important".

Full race and entry details are at the Rubix VT Brighton Half Marathon website here

Previous race results and event reports are at runABC South race listing here.

Photo courtesy Brighton Half Marathon Press & Media