Press Report 27th February 2024
Brighton Half Marathon
Sunday 25th February
Sunday saw the 34th edition of the Brighton half marathon and in attendance was husband and wife duo Tarik and Carlie Qirem.
The 13.1-mile route, mainly along the seafront, takes in some of the city’s best-known sights, including Brighton Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion and the colourful beach huts of Hove.
The pair started the race together in almost perfect conditions. Tackling the only major hill in the race during the first two miles saw Tarik split off, demonstrating his London marathon training is paying off. Ticking off the miles and showing that her training is coming back after an eventful 2023, Carlie surprised herself and him by catching him up at mile 9.
As always in Brighton, you can never trust the weather to play ball. In the final few miles with a turn back along the sea wall straight into a headwind, made the final 5km back to the finish line a real battle for the pair.
Finishing together in true style, Tarik achieved a fantastic pb in 1:37:23, by over 90 seconds, and Carlie came in just outside her pb, by 30 seconds, in 1:37:28.
London Winter run (10k)
Trafalgar Square
Sunday 25th February
On a cold Sunday morning, Ilford athletes Mandy Reid and Billy Green lined up alongside 20,000 other runners for the ‘10k London Winter run’, which is an annual event through the city of London, organized by Cancer Research UK
The 10k route which starts on Trafalgar Square and passes such iconic London Landmarks as St Paul’s Cathedral and St. Mary-le-bow church (home of the famous Bow Bells) before finishing on Whitehall alongside The Cenotaph, was lined with Polar bears, penguins and yetis – or at least people dressed up as such!
First home for Ilford was Billy Green, on one of his rare outings nowadays, coming home in a respectable 51m 51 secs.
Mandy Reid, who showed how well her London Marathon training schedule was going, ran a terrific race to finish in 53 mins 45 secs, and achieved a new Personal best over the distance.
Both runners dedicated their runs to former teammate Nicola Hopkinson who lost her own battle with cancer recently, and a message was placed on the memory board in her name.
