Race report – Brighton Marathon

This was originally booked in Sept 2019 for April 2020 as covid delayed and finally took place last weekend (12/9). So good to be back racing and with mass starts.

 

 

Started the day at Preston park with the new norm waved starts. Met up with club mate Paul (Brackenborough) who was running his first marathon. We aimed to run together for as long as possible and either one of us to push on.

 

 

The first section of the race was inland around the park and relatively hilly. Brilliant atmosphere from the off with the people of Brighton lining the street cheering everyone on, steel bands playing and just a general buzz being made by every involved. Around the 10k mark we hit the beautiful Brighton coast line heading east with the sea on our right, the sun was shining. We ran with our pacers having a good chat. 

 

 

 

Few more hills and then headed back toward the centre of Brighton seafront. Pace was still good but at this point the famous mis-measurement of the course was present as we we passed the 10 mile marker with our watches showing 10.5… the now famous cone being too far out oops. We kept to our pace but it was the halfway spot where the mistake showed and I  knew we was 90secs off the pace… bit of panic set in at this point and this is roughly where me and Paul separated. At this point I put in a massive effort to catch up with the pace group and this was my biggest mistake of the day. This section was inland again and the support of the brilliant locals ramped up. bit of an out and back but one street in particular made a massive effort all out cheering, with music systems blaring out tunes and kids offering jelly beans and high fives. This helped me keep my pace up for a while longer. Passed club mate Dave (Riordan) on the other side of the road and exchanged encouragement. Next phase of the race was a combination of seafront and the dreaded industrial estate.

 

 

 

By this time the legs were lead and it was time to grit my teeth and get the race finished the target pace had gone but still on for a PB. Helped on again by the people of Brighton. Shouts of go on “Thanet” and steel bands getting my tempo up. The finish was epic. Hundreds of people leaning over the barriers cheering us all home. A few blips aside this was an epic, really well supported with brilliant atmosphere led by the brilliant volunteers and staff. Epic race. Thank you Brighton 

 

 

 

 

Ryan Dargan