After a traumatic year that saw Grounded Events Company Limited, former owners and operators of the Brighton Marathon, go into administration followed by emergency meetings and a rescue package agreed on with London Marathon Events for a licence to operate the event for the next five years, Brighton Marathon Weekend is back with a bang!

On Sunday (2 April 2023) around 12,500 runners took part in the regenerated Brighton Marathon, BM 10K, or Mini Mile races to breathe new life into the all-but-extinct event.

Brighton Marathon and the supporting BM10K were held on revised courses that were an instant hit with competitors, being more interesting than the original routes.

Brighton Marathon was totally dominated by Marshall Smith (Ashford AC, 2:24:05) who was remarkably making his marathon debut. Marshall, who was second in Brighton Half Marathon in February in a PB 1:06:41, recently marshalled his local Ashford 10K, putting something back into the sport he loves.

The men's podium (pictured above) was completed by Barney Reed (unattached, 2:36:15) and Axel Finke (Cambridge & Coleridge AC, 2:36:41) as 8,448 finished in 9:13:01.

There were 235 finishers in under three hours, including the top three women: Jessie Mulcaire (unattached, 2:49:54), Helen Reid (unattached, 2:54:42) and Lucy Barnes (Harlow Running & Tri Club, 2:56:00).

BM10K saw 2,747 complete the new course in 2:10:07. The 2023 champions are Jack Kavanagh (Holland Sports AC, 31:04) from Kurtis Gibson (Thames Hare & Hounds, 31:09) and Kojo Kyereme (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, 31:11). In the women's race, Joelle Cortis (unattached, 35:43) was ahead of Linda Schofield (Brighton & Hove AC, 36:50) and Lucy Lavender (Lewes AC, 37:01).

Also on the busy weekend programme were the Mini Mile races held on Saturday (1 April) with more than 1,000 young athletes running on a fully enclosed course in Preston Park. The fastest times were 4:55 by Sam Sprostranov and 5:19 by Freda Pearce.

All the results and previous reports are available at the runABC South race listing here.

Image courtesy Sporting Events UK on Facebook