As the spring marathon preparation window begins to close, a good number of 26.2-mile race hopefuls are still fine-tuning with outings at half marathon and 20 miles, both of which were on offer on a breezy but beautiful day at the 16th annual Brett Lydd 20 and Brett Lydd Half Marathon on Sunday 12 March.

Both races start and finish adjacent to Banks Sports Club in Dennes Lane, just off the High Street in Lydd, the most southerly town in Kent and one of the original Cinque Ports, situated on the pancake flat Romney Marsh.

The out-and-back courses run on quiet country roads through Old Romney and out to Brookland. It is claimed the 20-mile route has only 6 metres of elevation gain – an average of 30cms per mile!

The race organisation is in the capable hands of Nice Work and the races are sponsored by Brett, the UK's largest independent construction and building materials company, with race profits donated to the Mayor of Lydd's Charity.

The longer race attracted the lion's share of entries with 434 completing 20 miles in 5:32:13. Up front there was just one elite male under two hours. Tom Brooke (Cambridge Harriers, 1:55:09) finished well clear of fellow 20-mile debutant Aiden Gorham (Ashford RRC, 2:00:36) and last year's runner-up Anthony Bradley (Lonely Goat RC, 2:02:37). Brooke looks well set to revise his 2:44:29 marathon PB in the near future.

Maeve Kenny (South London Harriers, 2:16:56 PB) was equally dominant in the women's race as she enjoyed taking more than seven minutes off her previous best achieved at Lydd while finishing fourth in 2022. The podium was completed by W45 Ashley Pearson (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, 2:20:15 PB) and Camilla Witts (unattached, 2:25:58).

The half marathon saw 226 finish in 3:40:56 and a much closer race at the head of proceedings. M40 Chris Edwards (Dover Road Runners, 1:20:11 PB) led the way from M40 David Walsh (Belgrave Harriers, 1:20:17 PB) and M45 Paul Knight (Canterbury Harriers, 1:21:20 PB).

The top three women were Aislinn Darvell (Hailsham Harriers, 1:28:10 PB), Hannah Green (London City Runners, 1:28:37 PB) and W40 Kate Woodbridge (Ashford AC, 1:34:59).

Full results are available via the runABC South race listing here (20 miles) and here (half marathon)

Image: Courtesy Nice Work on Facebook