17th April 2016

Thank you and congratulations to the 23 CRY runners who took part in the Brighton Marathon on Sunday 17th April 2016. This is the biggest team that CRY has ever had for this event.

CRY staff member Nicola Taylor and CRY volunteer Hollie Peploe were out on the route cheering along the CRY team. Nicola and Hollie cheered at the halfway point (mile 13) and at the finish line (mile 26) to give the team some extra encouragement to keep on running.

The atmosphere was unbelievable. Crowds of spectators filled the streets from around 9:30am, cheering on the runners with their banners and clappers, high-fiving them and handing out sweets to give them that extra boost.

The course wound up and down the sloping streets of the buzzing city and then carried the runners along the spectacular Brighton seafront. It was blue skies and sunshine throughout the day.

Thousands of spectators watched the marathon live on the big screen in the Beach Village, relaxing in the deck chairs on the pebbled beach and enjoying their fish and chips.

The thriving crowds at the finish line were phenomenal – especially from mile 24 onwards as every runner was spurred on by cheers right up until they crossed the finish line.

CRY had a stand at the event for the third year in a row. The runners who visited the stand after finishing were given a warm welcome and refreshments by CRY staff Rosie Peploe and Phil Houlton, and CRY volunteer Hollie Peploe. Jason Mitchell was the first CRY runner to arrive at the meet-and-greet point with an amazing finishing time of 03:59:29.

It was a pleasure to meet the CRY runners, some for the first time, as well as the family and friends who went along to support them.

The 23 runners in the CRY team were:

Sophie Blackburn (running in memory of Arabella Campbell); Rob Broadley (running in memory of Gary Pope); Jamie Crawford (running in memory of Annie Edwards); Sian Donnelly and Thomas Donnelly (running in memory of Adam Donnelly); Joanne Foster (running in memory of Graham Blaxhall); Samiul Hussain (running in memory of Peter Bumstead); Kate Jenkins; Hattie I’Anson (running in memory of Camilla Jane Irvine); Keslyn Lewis (running in memory of James Phillips); Justin Luchford (running in memory of Junior Dian); Jason Mitchell (running in memory of Jake Wood); Katie Murphy (running in memory of Graham Blaxhall); Lorraine Neale (running in memory of David Wild); Debbie Ross; Adam Ruddy (running in memory of Claire Reed); Nicola Shadbolt (running in memory of David Bramwell); Sarah Louise Siveter (running in memory of Sian Roger); Adam Stutchbery (running in memory of Adam Donnelly); Ben Thompson (running in memory of Gemma Bousfield); Ross Ward and Sarah Ward (running in memory of Nathan Joseph Philip Malyon); and Will Wright.

Thank you so much and well done to all of our runners – we are very grateful to each of you for choosing to take part for CRY. We would also like to say a huge thank you to CRY volunteer Hollie Peploe for giving up her time to help make the day a success.

We look forward to next year’s race on Sunday 9th April 2017, when we will hopefully see even more CRY runners.