 I've lived within a few miles of Brighton all my adult life and have been running marathons for 12 years and yet I'd never so much as considered entering the Brighton Marathon. The main reason has always been that it clashes with the Paris Marathon. Paris was my first marathon back in 2012 and we've returned every year since. But the other reason was that I didn't really like the look of the Brighton Marathon course. However, I've done Paris 12 times in a row now and Brighton has recently changed hands. It's now organised by London Marathon events. And they have altered the course somewhat to remove a particularly gruesome section, making it seem almost palatable now. So this year I swallowed my pride and signed up. We also invited a group of friends who run with us on Zwift and travelled from all over the UK and abroad to run the marathon with Victoria and me. If you have a treadmill, why not come and join us on Zwift sometime. Good training, good fun and a great community. Welcome to film my run. It is virtually Sunday afternoon. It's something after 10 o'clock in the morning. This is my first time doing Brighton Marathon. Normally we're in Paris for Paris Marathon. We thought we'd take a break this year. So Brighton for the very first time with some Zwift friends and some Brighton friends. We're going to enjoy it. We're going to go for four hours today. So I'm no pressure on me. It's a pacing four hours. No pressure says Paul. Let's see what happens. We're going to really enjoy it. It's an absolutely gorgeous day. Might even be a little bit too hot today, but we'll see what happens. Here we go. Paul the Radcliffe is just up there. We're going to try and high fiver as we go past. Three, two, one. That was Paula. Right, we are off in the Brighton Marathon 2024. So we'll just settle in. That's Paul just ahead there. There's James there and we've got Theo there and we just need to settle on to pace now. Half an hour or so later, Victoria lined up at the start with another group of Zwift runners. Right, so that's our first kilometer done. 5.52, which is, so we've already lost 20 seconds, but we don't mind. There was an uphill first kilometer. Now we're downhill. So we're hoping it'll spread out a bit and we can kind of make up the time that we've already lost. We have made up time there on the downhill, so we are now bang on pace and we just need to relax now for the next few kilometers. Race start is in Preston Park, just north of Brighton City Centre. Finding our rhythm, we ran away from the centre along London Road before turning round and heading back towards the park. So we're just passing the start-finish area now. We've gone out kind of north and then we're coming back down and now we're heading towards the seafront. We're at 4k and this start- finish area has really emptied out now. I was really impressed with the crowd support right from the start and the glorious sunshine made the atmosphere even better. We passed Carolyn Debbie, our cheer squad for the day and kept going. Okay, 5k in and we are bang on pace. 28 minutes for 5k and nice support early on in the race. Lots of supporters out, but it is a beautiful day. First aid station, first water stop at about 6k in. Yeah, 6k there, 5.32, 4 km to 6k. So again, we're just a little bit ahead of pace. I'm not too worried, it's not too overpaced. So on the right here, this is Brighton Dome, very famous Brighton Dome where 50 years ago Abba performed Waterloo and won the Eurovision Song Contest. That was in that building there. And right next to Brighton Dome, Brighton Pavilion. Home of the Mad King. Was it Mad King George? Build that. How you approach the early miles in a marathon will have a significant bearing on what happens in the final miles. Running with Paul, James and Theo, I was conscious not to get sucked into an over-enthusiastic testosterone-fuelled increase in speed beyond our goal pace. It's easy to do and not so easy to rectify. Okay, we've just hit 10 km in 55 minutes and 20 seconds. We are doing okay. Again, we're still about five seconds faster per km than we should really be, but we're just taking that. That'll do. There's the 10 km markers there. So we're doing okay, nice and comfortable. We can sense the wind is going to be strong when we hit the seafront, though, definitely. Paul, okay, 10k? Yeah, oh god, good James. So we've just hit the seafront at about 11.5k. I've just suffered a major watch malfunction. Luckily I'm wearing two watches, but the main watch that I had decided to turn itself off and on again. So I've lost four minutes on my main watch. So I'm now on the backup watch. After reaching the seafront, the Brighton Marathon route turns east onto the coast road and heads away from the centre in the direction of Rottingdeen and Peacehaven. The crowds certainly thinned out here and the wind was stronger, but the views more than made up for that. We passed the impressive and imposing Rodine Girls School built in 1898 before turning left and inland to Ovingdeen. So high five energy drinks here if you want them. We've just hitting 10 miles in just under 130. So 129.30 for 10 miles cruising still nice and easy. It's definitely nowhere near flat. It's undulating all the way so far and quite twisty turning. So Theo's still okay as well. James is all right as well. So here's the turnaround in the village of Ovingdeen. 10 and a half miles in. So here we are at another new turn in the road. There's no wonder that a few years ago Brighton Marathon was measured long because there are so many twists and turns and ups and downs and but we are still enjoying ourselves. We're now heading back into town to back in towards Brighton. So we're just over 12 miles. If we're in the London Marathon we are just crossing Tower Bridge with the crowds screaming on either side. It's amazing. Look we're having a good time coming up to the marina. We are not far off halfway now. If the views and the weather hadn't been so nice this section could have been rather sole destroying. As it was I was concentrating on my pacing duties making sure we were running evenly and efficiently. I was also keeping an eye out for Victoria and her team coming in the opposite direction. Just passed halfway in one hour 57 and a half so we are a little ahead of schedule. Let's just hope that doesn't come back to bite us later. Here's Victoria. Hi Vic. Hi guys well done. So that was Victoria and her little five hour bus. We are on the four hour bus here and we're now on the way home. How are you feeling the halfway call? Yes, good. Really good. James still talking. Not quite on the paper actually. Still running. So we're all good at the moment but it's not going to get any easy. Halfway is a great milestone to reach especially if things have been going well up to this point which for us they had with James, Theo and Paul all still with me as we hit the crowds approaching the pier. Nice crowds coming into town. Brighton's Palace Pier over there. At the pier the route takes a sharp turn and heads along Madeira Drive for another out and back at sea level passed a plethora of Brighton tourist attractions. 25km, 2 hours 18, 35, bang on course. We're running along Madeira Drive now which used to be the old finish line of the Brighton marathon until London marathon events took it over. So we've now got a new finish line on Hove lawns. It was warming up now and the breeze coming off the sea was very welcome. However, eyes front along here as you pass Brighton's famous nudist beach. The Concorde 2 music venue is also on Madeira Drive as is the Volks Electric Railway which is the oldest working electric railway in the world. Then there's the relatively new sea lanes outdoor swimming pool which Victoria and I foolishly tried out in the dead of winter for some reason. It was absolutely freezing. Talking of Victoria, her group had started to split up and she was now only running with Lee who was coping very well despite it being a tough day at the office. We've made it to the turnaround and we're still all right. Absolutely. Look at the view. So that is Brighton's grand hotel there just next to the Brighton centre where all the big concerts are here in Brighton. And there's the Hilton Hotel just in front of us. Hilton Hotel and that's the i360 with some amazing views. Amazing views over Brighton up there. Hey Neil, come on buddy. How are you feeling? You're done, are you? No worries. That's Neil, another Zwift runner who had started on his own but now was beginning to suffer. So that is the peace statue and the peace statue marks the delineation between Brighton that way and Hove this way. Hey buddy, you all right Lee? I think we're coming up to where we finish in about eight miles. Finish on the sea front over here. Well into Hove now, we took a right turn onto Grand Avenue urged on by the steel band and more great crowd support before turning left for another long straight road section. At 19 miles we passed Hove Town Hall and George Street which is the main shopping area and approaching 20 miles we hit Church Road heading towards Port Slade with runners now beginning to suffer in the heat. Plenty were walking and we were picking them off. So 20 miles done. We are still on pace. Just coming up to three hours in fact. So we've got an hour to the last 10k. This is where it hurts. This is where the pain cave really is in the last 6k, six miles. So we've got to get Paul through. 10 more kilometers, are you doing Paul? Getting a little bit serious now. I think we're all right. Yeah, this is where it gets serious so this is where we have to dig in. Hang on for dear life for the end. But we are doing okay for time. One hour to do 10k. So this is Port Slade just outside Hove. So west of Brighton, we've come to the west of Brighton so that direction would be where I live, worthy. Just had a couple of slices of orange. Very nice indeed. Paul is sticking with me. He's starting to hurt now but he's coming. He's working and we are still on pace. So we're on Church Road in Hove. We're now heading back towards Brighton. By now, I could tell Paul was beginning to suffer but he just had to hold on a little bit longer. Yeah, keep it going. It's really nice on the residential street. All the people come out of their houses and cheer you on or give you jelly babies. 35. 35 kilometers done. Three hours, 14 minutes. We've got 45 minutes to get home in under four hours. 7k to go. 7k in 45 minutes. We've got this. We've got this guys. Come on. I knew that Theo had done under four hours before and he was looking okay but this was now a mental battle for Paul. He needed to convince his mind and then his legs that he could run under four hours. We have five kilometers to go. We have 35 minutes to do those 5k. Theo is still here. Paul Deering is still here hanging on. Not far to go. It is warm and it's lovely when you get the breeze on you now. With just over three miles to go, we made our way back down Grand Avenue drinking in the supportive cheers before turning right onto the seafront and heading out west towards Hove Lagoon and the homes of the rich and famous. Right, lesson 4k to go. Paul is hanging on in there now. Come on buddy. Paul's never made it under four hours before. He is going to do it today. If I have to kick him across the line, he is going to do it. We've still got Theo. I think we've lost James somewhere. James had started to feel the pinch at around 18 miles and fell off the back of our little bus. I'm happy to say though that he made it across the line in four hours and nine minutes so he didn't fall too far behind. Okay, so we're turning off the road now. Coming up to the houses where Fat Boy Slim lives and then left and we've got two and a half k to go home. Paul McCartney used to live here as well but Paul used to have a house here. Not anymore. Cheers, buddy. And there he is. That's the man himself. That was Fat Boy Slim. As we were on the home straight, Victoria and Lee were passing Hove Town Hall. Eight miles now to go. It's fair to say today has not gone to plan. It's really quite hot up and we shriveled a bit. Lee and I are going to get it done. 40 kilometers in three hours, 43. So Paul is definitely going to do under four hours. Come on, Paul. It's going to have to be a monumental disaster for us not to get in under four now. Come on, 2k to go. New target, 355, Paul. How are you feeling, Theo? All right. Yeah? Yes, we've made it to the last 2k. Really good. How are you doing, Paul? We're 2k to go. Not much less than 10. Less than 2k. Into the final mile and Paul was dragging every last ounce of energy out of himself to get across that line. If you've ever run a marathon, you know the feeling of willing that finish line to appear and wanting with every last fibre of your being for it all to be over. So close now. Probably about 500 metres to go. I'm trying to get Paul in under 355 now. He's not interested in the slightest. Come on, Paul. As with most road marathons, the finish line was actually a few metres further than 26.2 miles. So 355 was a bit beyond us, and Paul was just too exhausted to push any harder or faster. We can see the finish line 200 metres to go. Paul is going to make it in three hours, 57 minutes. 357. So we've done it. Fantastic. Brighton Moutham for the first time. What a superb run from Paul and Theo, and what a gorgeous day to do it. And how nice was that finish with the crowds cheering us in? Decent medal too. Well done, Brighton. That's 2 miles, we're horrible. I'll have the back of Steve Cousins' calves in my memory for the next few nights, I think. It's actually much better finishing on Hove Lawns. There's a lot more space for people. After a brief lie down, we met up with Carol and Debbie, and went to cheer in some of the other runners. Amy ran five hours 30, and just behind her were Victoria and Lee. You see it, brother? See it at the end then. You okay? What's the matter? Why are you laughing so much? This isn't funny, you know. This is serious. Right, so I've got my drop bag. I think it's time to get changed out of the gear. So from Paul and me and Theo, who've done it under four hours today. Well done to Paul, first time under four hours. That is Brighton Moutham done and dusted. Thank you very much for watching. If you want to watch any of my other Mouthams, you can watch last year's Paris Moutham just there, and I'll see you guys on the start line next time. Bye-bye.