By Hilary Humphreys
Anneka and Scott at the Brighton Marathon
In glorious spring sunshine, thousands of spectators lined the streets of Brighton to watch nearly 8,000 runners participate in the country’s second largest marathon event, which incidentally raises vast sums for both local and national charities.
There were some truly stand-out performances for the Striders, firstly by Josh Rudd, who attacked the distance in his usual style, beating his last years’ time by just under 3 minutes, crossing the line in an outstanding time of 2:57:30. Struggling in the heat during the final approach was Scott Hitchcock, who crossed the line in 3:11:52, sad to have missed the sub 3 time he had hoped for but still a fantastic performance and raising charity money by his efforts. Not far behind, and looking cool and calm throughout was Luke Borland in another brilliant time of 3:19:54.
Next it was the turn of the ladies and they certainly didn’t disappoint. In her first marathon for the club Emily Eaton crossed the line in a superb time of 3:38:25. She was followed by another club first-timer at this distance, Anneka Redley who clocked a very respectable 4:19:36. Last for the Striders but certainly not least, given that she completed the Manchester Marathon only a week ago was another charity fund raiser, this time Carlie Watts who finished in 4:24:50, hopefully saving a little something for London Marathon in two weeks’ time!
However, not to be outdone by his wife’s fantastic time at Brighton, Joel Eaton completed the South Downs Way 50 miler on Saturday. This trail race commences in Worthing, climbs up 6 miles of chalk paths to the Chanctonbury Ring before following the final 44 miles of the National Trail to Eastbourne where it takes a final turn off, bringing runners out to finish with a lap of the track at Eastbourne. Joel Eaton completed this mammoth event in 7 hours 44 minutes and 24 seconds!