Saturday 26th December – Preston Park, Brighton
The rain held off for the duration of the annual Boxing Day Races in Preston Park. In spite of the inclement weather overnight 140 runners took to the start line.
In the 4 lap men’s race once the banter about who had eaten the most Christmas dinner was over the racing started with Finn McNally and Matt Bristow taking the initial pace. With the first two miles covered in a little over 10 minutes it was a case of who could maintain this pace the longest. Matt pushed the hill on the third lap but had no answer when Finn gained a small gap at the beginning of the final lap. Both Matt and Finn were suffering up the final hill and Chris Thomson took advantage by overtaking Matt and closing the gap to Finn. In the final sprint to the finish Finn held on for first in 29:29 with Chris second with 29:33 and Matt third with 29:42.
In the women’s race Caroline Hoyte ran 32:39 for seventh place overall to beat Katie Moore who ran 33:23. Julia Downes was third with 35:19.
For the results please select the following links;
The races raised £320 for the Help for Heroes Charity.