Two and a half thousand runners completed the postponed “Beacon” Half marathon on Sunday but overall the standard did not reflect the good running conditions.
In February 2020, the last time the races was held 7000 runners completed the course and in ,probably the worst conditions ever with strong wind and rain Brighton & Hove’s Kevin Moore won the event in 69:05 and Sheffield’s Philippa Williams took the women’s race in 77:55.
There were local winners in both the men’s and women’s races on Sunday, with Sussex runner Paul Navesey, now running in the Portsmouth colours having a fairly easy race to win by half-a-minute in 68:10 from Marcus England (Western Tempo) in a personal best of 68:55 and Brighton & Hove’s James Turner who clocked 69:29.
Lewes runner Jason Lee and Fred Tasker finished fifth and sixth respectively in 73:52 and 74:02.
In the women’s race Bobby Searle (Brighton Phoenix) clocked 82:25 in 39th place, Dani Tarleton (Arena 80) 83;03 in 44th place and club mate Emily Proto was 95th in 84:33.