By Paul Lacey
Thousands took part in last Sunday’s Brighton Half Marathon including celebrities such as Norman Cook and Katie Price but all had to run further than originally planned.
Over 7400 participants who entered the race were prepared to run the 13.1 miles but a misplaced signal between mile 4 and 5, attributed to human error, meant that those that finished had actually ran 13.42 miles.
Race director Becky Stevens apologised on the official Brighton Half Marathon website adding “We will be implementing some new additional measures ready for the 2013 race to prevent this from happening again.”
Despite the error, the 22nd Brighton Half Marathon was deemed to be a great success by those taking part. Geraldine Waring, 61, from London said: “It’s been absolutely fantastic, the spectators were so encouraging and they really kept me going throughout.” When asked if she thought it was well organised she added: “Extremely well organised and well done to whoever organised the weather!”
Race Organisers The Sussex Beacon confirmed that Matthew Dumigan of the Swansea Harriers Athletics Club took the official fastest race time at 01:08:41.
