THE Brighton Trail Weekend took place last weekend for the first time and raised over £30,000 for charities.
Grounded Events, the organisers of the Brighton Marathon, put on three events on Sunday, June 26 including a 26.2 mile race, a 10K and a free youth event.
Starting at 8.30am in East Brighton Park the Brighton Trail Marathon runners set off to tackle a 26.2 mile route through the South Downs, which finished in the Stanmer Park Estate.
More than 1,000 people crossed the start line and prepared to tackle over 1000 metres of elevation.
Both the Brighton Trail Kids and Brighton Trail 10K events took place entirely within Stanmer Park through picturesque fields and woodland.
The Trail Kids races saw a total of 110 under 18s taking part, with those aged seven to nine tackling a 1.2km route before older participants took on a tougher 2km challenge.
With their start line being just metres away from the children’s finish, the 566 10K runners cheered and clapped for every young finisher.
Despite the hills and uneven terrain, Dan Stent from Hove completed the course in 40 minutes 39 seconds and Katherine O’Hara from Portslade finished in 47 minutes 39 seconds.
All three events shared the same finish line within the Event Village in Stanmer Park.
James Baker from Chichester was the first male marathon finisher, completing the course in just 2 hours 59 minutes 57 seconds, while Amy Harris from Horsham was the first woman to finish in a time of 3 hours 23 minutes 43 seconds.
Tom Naylor, Event Director said: “I am extremely proud of what our team has achieved in delivering such a unique trail running event in the beautiful South Downs National Park.
“Over £30,000 was raised for charities and we can only hope to build on that for 2023.
“We want to thank everyone who took part on Sunday: participants, supporters, partners and volunteers.
“It’s never easy to launch a new event and we’re so grateful for everyone’s support.
“We are looking forward to doing it all again on June 11, 2023”
Interested runners can now enter the 2023 Brighton Trail Marathon or Brighton Trail 10k
Brighton Trail Weekend: www.brightontrailweekend.co.uk
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