MARATHON organisers have revealed "a basic human error" caused participants to run around half a kilometre more than intended.

Officials from Grounded Events, the organisers of the Brighton Marathon, said that the mistake to the route was made through human error in laying out a cone line.

The issue was only discovered part way through the day, when runners had already begun the race.

Tom Naylor, event director, said: "Despite the marathon route being measured correctly in the lead-up to race start, a basic human error in laying out a cone line meant that the final marathon course overran by 568 metres on the day.

"We offer our sincerest apologies for this mistake, which was only spotted once participants were on the course, and when an amendment was not possible.

"Finishers will be contacted with more information about their times and an official adjustment to the course length for results and qualifying times.

"We hope that overall, this hasn't marred the overall experience for our runners at what was a brilliant day for so many, and for the return of running events."

The news may have proved disappointing to some runners in yesterday's race, especially in the men's marathon, where Neil McClements overtook Ollie Garrod in the final hundred metres to win the marathon.

Thousands of runners took to the streets of Brighton and Hove for the road race, with spectators lining the streets cheering them on and waving banners to show their support.

Some of those raising money even took to fancy dress in the sunshine to take on the marathon, wearing panda outfits, gingerbread men costumes and even dressing as a poo emoji.

After organisers announced the measurement error yesterday afternoon, some participants took to social media to make light of the situation, describing the race as their first ultramarathon - a term used to describe a race longer than the 26.2 mile marathon distance.

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