Sussex Beacon half marathon 2008

Peter 'Marshall' Crowhurst

Photo by Henry Bruce

Running down Gloucester Road

Photo by Henry Bruce

Running through the streets of North Laine

By Henry Bruce

Once again the annual Sussex Beacon half marathon took over the North Laine streets, this time on Sunday 17th February 2008, bringing with it some lovely winter sunshine.

Peter was a marshall

Our very own NLCA Chair Peter Crowhurst was involved in setting up a half marathon many years ago and this year was volunteering as a Marshall for the first time, stationed on the busy junction of East Street and the seafront.

Peter looked wonderful in his 'fashionable' canary yellow jacket (Sussex Beacon's quotation marks!). He was happy to be involved, although but for an injury he would have been running himself.

The route

The race started and finished in Madeira Drive, taking in as it did last year Pelham Street, Trafalgar Street, Kemp Street, Queen's Gardens, North Road and Jubilee Street before heading back to the seafront via East Street.

This year's turnout

This year there was a record turnout - over 3,700 completed the course and the target of raising over £120,000 through sponsorship looks likely to be achieved, although at the time of writing money was still coming in.

An excellent website and a system whereby all runners are issued with a microchip capable of logging the finish time as they cross the line enabled the speedy transfer of data of the names and times of each competitor who completed the course, to be made available to all within 24 hours.

How to get involved

Any readers who would like to get involved should bookmark the web address (http://www.sussexbeacon.org.uk/race.htm) and put a note in their diary for next year. Remember that there are volunteering opportunities too for those not wanting to run - you too could be wearing a jacket like Peter's!

[Previously published in the 'North Laine Runner', No 191, March/April 2008]