Five of the first six runners in the London to Brighton 55-mile road race were making their debuts.

Ukrainian Andriy Kotsybka was the winner by three minutes in a time of 6hr.42min.13sec.

Harrow's Chris Finill, the only runner in the top six to have completed the Brighton run before, clocked 6hr.45min.03sec and, unusually, was the only veteran to finish in the top eight placings.

Crawley's Brian Hennesey had a brilliant run to take third in 6hr. 54min.58sec while club mate Viestus Dude, who comes from Latvia, finished in fifth in 6hr. 58min.56sec.

Sports Club Paris, from the Ukraine, won the team title with 12 points.

Crawley were second with 13 points and Tom Fallon, who finished ninth, led the Brighton and Hove into third team spot with 34 points.

Liz Neville, from Epsom, was the first woman to complete the course in 8hr.42min.43sec.

Runners battled to stay on their feet in gale force winds at the Annual Lewes Downland 10-mile Multi Terrain race.

Newcomer to the area, Robbie James, who lives at Newhaven but runs for the South London Harriers, was the winner in 57min.45sec.

The home club's Dave Robinson repeated his second placing of last year in 58min.17sec, while Haywards Heath's Tom Burke continued his recent fine form filling third in 59min.14sec.

Brighton and Hove's Julia Armstrong was the first woman to cross the line in 45th place overall in 70min.46sec.

Armstrong was also the first veteran across the line and was closely followed by another veteran, Jane Boulton from Crowborough, who clocked 70 min.55sec. Hailsham's Jill Wheeler was third, 71min.10sec.

In the five-mile race, that preceded the main event Lewes athletes filled the first three races. Nick Lucas leading them home in 25min. 20sec, well clear of clubmates Stephen Ross and Dominic Lowden.

Dawn Lee, from Hastings, was the first woman to finish in29min.49sec.