1 June 2012

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

IT was cold. It was wet. It was boggy.

But for the runners who defied appalling weather to take part in the first-ever Three Towns Marathon, it was brilliant, said Tania Banham, owner of Sussex Living Magazine, the race sponsor.

The race took part in three stages over the three day May Bank holiday weekend,  kicking off with a ten mile run at East Grinstead. Stage two was a second ten miles around Haywards Heath, with a final 10k leg around Burgess Hill, making up the classic 26.2 mile Marathon distance.

In all, more than 1100 runners took up the challenge and made it through the triple finish lines, cheered on by friends and family.

“We really enjoyed all three days and it was wonderful to see so many people in the local communities coming together and having a great time. It made us very proud to be sponsoring this fantastic event, and we’d like to thank everyone including the Councils, the other sponsors, the runners and the public for making it a weekend to remember,” said Tanis.

A tough 234 runners completed all three races and they each received a special commemorative Sussex Living Marathon Weekend medal for their efforts.

And despite the damp and rainy conditions, the  runners recorded some impressive finishing times.

The winners of each race were as follows:

East Grinstead 10 Mile race
1st Russ Mullen         1 hour 4 minutes 23 seconds
2nd Bob De Wolf       1 hour 6 minutes 58 seconds
3rd Timmy Gedin       1 hour 7 minutes 46 seconds

Haywards Heath 10 Mile race
1st Matt Bradford       59 minutes 30 seconds
2nd David Bradford   59 minutes 43 seconds
3rd Russ Mullen        1 hour 1 minute 15 seconds

Burgess Hill 10 Kilometre race
1st Timmy Gedin      36 minutes 28 seconds
2nd Russ Mullen      36 minutes 50 seconds
3rd Louis Taub         37 minutes 48 seconds

Overall winner was Russ Mullen who was awarded a trophy and vouchers. But his success came at a price Russ, a childcare worker from Hassocks, admitted afterwards.

“I’m a bit of a state at the moment and my legs are a wreck,” he said.

“I fell over twice during the race on Monday and cut up my knees. East Grinstead was really boggy. We were up to our waists at some points of the course. One of the fields was probably the most ridiculous I have ever run in. It was only about 400 metres long, but it seemed to last a lifetime.

“But I got a trophy for winning the East Grinstead leg, a cup for the overall thing and £200 in vouchers. I can deal with a bit of mud for that.

“I have never done a series of races like that before, but it was all good fun and it went really well.”