History
The first man to run between London and Brighton was the, "celebrated runner" Tomlinson, who made a match for 100 guineas that he could go from "the extremity of Brighton," to the Quadrant Coffee House, Regent Street, London, in less than ten hours. On Monday 19 December 1825 he covered the first 20 miles (32.1 km) in a few minutes less than three hours, and after 26 miles (41.8 km) he stopped and had a short nap on some straw in a covered van that accompanied him. He got to the top of Reigate Hill, 31 miles (49.8 km), in 4 h 30 min, stopped at Tooting for half-an-hour for a mutton-chop supper and won the match with a leisurely ten minutes to spare. [1] [2] [3]
The first foot race took place in January 1837 between two professional pedestrians, Jack Berry from Lancashire and John Townsend, whose father was the town crier at Lewes. Their match was a go-as-you-please event with the men allowed to walk or run as they desired, but they were required to stick to the highway through Sutton, Reigate, Crawley, and Hickstead, and were each trailed by two umpires in a buggy to ensure fair play. The first to touch the railings of St Peter's Church, Brighton, would be the winner. The church is on the edge of an open park called The Level and is around eleven hundred yards (1 km) short of the sea front. They started from the Elephant and Castle, Blackfriars Road, London, with Townsend given a twenty-minute head start due to his age. Berry started at twenty-three minutes past eight in the morning of Monday 30 January 1837. The weather was not good. Only three weeks earlier a snow storm had closed the Brighton road for four days, and on the day it was windy and after an hour of the race a cold drizzle started that turned to sleet on the tops of hills. Berry got to the Swan Inn at Reigate in 1 h 36 min just four minutes behind Townsend, but then stopped for fifteen minutes for refreshments and to change his clothes. Berry passed Townsend at Hookwood Common, on the border of Surrey and Sussex (28 miles, 45 km), and ran non-stop to the thirty-third milestone (53 km), where he started to suffer cramps in his feet and was forced to walk. Townsend's more modest start and even pace saw him overtake Berry outside Patcham and he ran into Brighton to find Berry had beaten him to it. By the windmill at Patcham Berry had retired and ridden a barouche into town to witness the finish. Townsend was greeted by a numerous crowd that one newspaper described as "half of Brighton," gathered in the road to cheer and applaud, and touched the church railings in 8 h 37 min. [4] [5] [Note 1]
In 1899 South London Harriers organised an open go-as-you-please race that started from the clock tower on the Middlesex side of Westminster Bridge, and finished at Bell's Baths by the Aquarium at Brighton. It was scheduled to start at 7 o'clock in the morning of Saturday 6 May, but there was a slight delay and the starter, Harry Venn of London Athletic Club, did not get them going until fourteen minutes later. The race had created a lot of excitement in athletic circles and there was a sizeable crowd to see them off despite the early hour. There were nineteen entries from ten different running clubs, mostly across south London, but also one from Bexhill near Hastings and one from the Isle of Wight. The weather was fine, with clear skies, and warm, with a slight north-easterly breeze, as near perfect as could have been hoped. Each runner was accompanied by a cyclist, and arrangements had been made for refreshments to be available for competitors at several hotels along the route. [6]
The lead was taken by E. Gavin (South London H.), with a group of four close together some distance behind. By Croydon (11 miles, 17.3 km) Gavin had a lead of some 200 yards (182 m) but then retired from the race. The group of four were still together at 15 miles (24.1 km) reached in 1 h 50 min 10 s, but by Redhill (20 miles, 33 km) Frederick Randall (Finchley H.) had opened a gap of 80 yards (73 m). Randall had predicted the coming of social media, and arranged for telegrams with details of his progress to be sent to The Plough Inn, Turkey Street, Enfield, for the benefit of his friends. [7] As they progressed the group stretched out and at one point Randall was over a mile (1.6 km) in the lead, but the hills began to take their toll and he had to stop and walk several times allowing the second man, W. Saward (Essex Beagles) to get within two minutes of him.
Roads into Brighton were thronged with people cheering them on and there were so many cyclists accompanying the leader that his progress could be seen from a distance by the clouds of dust. When Randall crossed the line after 6 h 58 min 18 s he was hoisted aloft and carried to the carriage waiting to take him to the Baths. "Thank God it's over," he said. [8]
The starters included Edward Knott of South London Harriers, who had won a walking race over the same route in 1897 and held the current walking record for the trip, 8 h 56 min 44 s, but he was among those who did not finish, and arrived in Brighton by train for the dinner in the evening for the presentation of the prizes, tickets three shillings each. [9] The winner received a silver bowl on a plinth, and a gold medal. The next three all received a silver bowl. Second-placed W. Saward (Essex Beagles) also received a silver medal for breaking 7 h 30 min, and the next four finishers all received a bronze medal for beating 8 h 15 min. [10]
In February 1903 two professional pedestrians, Dave Fenton and Tom Gowan, independently wrote to the press to suggest that if some "gentleman sportsman" would put up a suitable purse or arrange a sweepestake they would be prepared to attack the record for the journey. [11] [12] This prompted The Evening News to announce two races, a walk and a run for both amateurs and professionals. Sporting authorities pointed out that the rules prevented amateurs from competing alongside professionals and the arrangements were amended to a go-as-you-please race open to the whole world, a walk for invited professionals, and an amateur walk. [13] [14]
The considerable sum of fifty guineas was offered as first prize in the go-as-you-please, with 10 guineas for second, 5 guineas for third, and £1 for each of the next fifteen finishers. The foreign champions the public were promised didn't materialise but there were almost one hundred men on the start line at 5 o'clock on the morning of Saturday 20 June 1903. Among them was W. Saward of Essex Beagles who had finished second to Frederick Randall in the 1899 race, and Leonard Hurst, a well-known professional runner, cyclist, and pedestrian who had twice won the Paris marathon, won the world 25-mile (40.2 km) championship and a 6-day walk in New York.
A group of four went off at the start but Hurst, wearing a light blue jersey and white knee-length shorts, hung back and waited in a larger group, eventually moving to the front as they passed through Purley. He was never seriously challenged from that point and won by more than thirty eight minutes in 6 h 34 min 50 s. The first seven finishers were inside eight hours. [15] [16] [17]
In January 1914 Charles Hart became the first man to run from London to Brighton and back. Starting from the Aquarium, Brighton, shortly before half past three on the afternoon of Sunday 25 January, he ran to Westminster Bridge in 8 h 44 min, turned round and ran back to Brighton, arriving there at quarter past one on Monday afternoon, he took a half hour break then ran back to London, completing the triple-journey in 34 h 37 min. [18] [19] [20] Sporting Life said, "there is no performance on the road with which this can be compared." At that time the world record for the comparable distance of 156 miles (251 km) on the track was 26 h 40 min 15 s by J. Hughes at New York in 1882 and the walking record was 31 h 50 min 42 s, by George Littlewood in a six-day walk at Sheffield also in 1882. [21]
Arthur Newton was an English man who had emigrated to South Africa where he owned a farm. In 1924, at the age of 41, he returned to England to air a grievance he had about the way the English were being treated in Natal, and he chose to do this through running. He had already twice won the 55 miles (88 km) Comrades Marathon in South Africa, beating the previous record by over two hours. On Friday 3 October 1924 he staged a deliberate attack on Len Hurst's record for the Brighton run. Running on his own with Len Hurst watching from a following car, he reached Redhill (20 miles, 32.1 km) in 2 h 6 min 5 s, Hickstead Castle (40 miles, 64.3 km) in 4 h 37 min 6 s, and crossed the finish line in Brighton in 6 h 11 min 4 2/5 s to huge applause from a very appreciative crowd. [22] It was later described as, "one of the most remarkable long distance runs in history." [23]
Not satisfied with this performance, he came back less than six weeks later, on Thursday 13 November, and had another go. This time the weather was not quite so congenial and he had to battle against drizzling rain and a head wind the whole way, but beat his own record by more than 17 minutes and recorded 5 h 53 min 43 s, revising the world record for 50 miles (80.4 km) en route. [24]
That record lasted for thirteen years, and the man who beat it actually came from South Africa, and used Arthur Newton's training methods. In 1937 Hardy Ballington from Durban, South Africa, was twenty-four years old. He had won the Comrades Marathon three times, beating the course record for both the up and down races, and he was being coached by post by Arthur Newton, who was in England. So the members of Durban Athletic Club got up a subscription to send the diminutive Ballington to London for the specific purpose of attacking Arthur Newton's record on the Brighton road. He arrived in England on 19 April and met Newton for the first time at Waterloo Station. [25]
Eight men lined up for the start on the morning of Saturday 22 May and at first the conditions were good, but after the leaders, Ballington and J. H. Chapman, reached the Greyhound at Croydon (10 miles, 16.0 km) in 1 h 3 min 45 s it started to rain and a strong south-west wind got up. By 20 miles (32.1 km) Ballington was exactly five minutes behind Newton's schedule in 2 h 9 min 15 s. Encouraged by Newton from a following car Ballington worked hard and by Crawley (31 miles 1,408 yards, 51.1 km) he was forty-nine seconds ahead of schedule. At Pyecombe, the top of Dale Hill, he was 7 min 4 s ahead of Newton's schedule and he slowed down to conserve his resources. He set new figures of 5 h 33 min 15 s for 50 miles (80.4 km) and cutting it remarkably close beat Newton's record for the full distance by exactly one second. [26] [27] [28]
In August 1951, as part of the Festival of Britain, Surbiton Town Sports Club wanted to stage a road race from London to Brighton with the specific aim of challenging Hardy Ballington's course record from 1937. Ernest Neville of the Surrey Walking Club had been organising walking races from London to Brighton since 1902, and in 1948 organised a 24-hour track race for the Surbiton Town Sports Club, so they asked him to organise their road race. The race was sponsored by the News-Chronicle, and forty-seven men faced the starter on Westminster Bridge, but the weather was not conducive to record breaking and the winner, a 40-year-old insurance clerk, Lewis Piper of Blackheath Harriers, recorded 6 h 18 min 40 s, over two minutes ahead of second-placed J. Crossley of Rochdale. [29]
The 1951 race made it more widely known that running from London to Brighton was not reserved solely for outrageously talented professionals, but that Brighton was within reach of a well-trained marathon runner. The following year Ernest Neville founded the Road Runners Club, and they took on the role of organising an annual London to Brighton road race with their first race held in September 1952. The winner was Derek Reynolds, a 30-year-old insurance clerk and a member of Blackheath Harriers, in 5 h 52 min 22 s. The winner was presented the Arthur Newton Cup, and Newton himself presented this perpetual trophy to its first winner. [30]
In 1953 Len Hurst's widow presented the Road Runners Club a magnificent gold and silver belt her husband had won in a 10-mile professional handicap race at Bow on Boxing Day 1902, to be used as a trophy for the team winners of their annual London to Brighton race. [31] [32] Rex Cross as president accepted the belt on behalf of the club, and then handed it back to Caroline Hurst for her to present it to the first winners, Blackheath Harriers. [33] [34] In 2005 when the race was held for the last time, the belt was presented to Crawley Athletics Club, who had won it the most number of times, and they in turn presented it to Crawley Museum. [Note 2]
Due to the similarity of the event to the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, and the connection with Arthur Newton and Hardy Ballington, athletes from South Africa entered in increasing numbers, won the event several times, set records and won the team prize, until 1976 when South Africa were expelled from the IAAF (now known as World Athletics). [35] The first South African winner was Wally Hayward of Germiston Callies, in 1953, who also set an unofficial world road best for 50 miles (80.4 km) of 5 h 14 min 22 s to replace the figures established by Hardy Ballington in 1937. [36]
But it was not just South Africans that came; in 1967, the first time the event was held on a Sunday, in addition to the usual English men there were starters from Canada, Eire, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, the United States and Roger Alcorn from New Zealand finished second. In 1976 the team prize was won by the Millrose Athletic Association from New York. [37] By that time it was sufficiently popular that the Road Runners Club had to impose entry qualifications, limiting entry to athletes who had demonstrated the ability to finish in less than eight and a half hours. [38]
In 1971, the 21st annual open race was won by 21-year-old Dave Levick of Witwatersrand University from a field of 66 starters. [39] The following year Scottish marathon runner Alastair Wood (Aberdeen AC) beat 58 others to Brighton in 5 h 11 min 2 s, making the single largest improvement in the record since 1953 and becoming the first man to run from London to Brighton at an average speed of more than 10 miles per hour (16.0 kmh). Mick Orton (Tipton H.) also beat the previous record in finishing second but was over eight minutes behind Wood, who three months later celebrated his fortieth birthday. [40] A record number of 94 starters contested the event in 1974, when John Newsome (Wakefield H. & AC) beat Cavin Woodward (Leamington AC) by just six seconds and the first twelve men finished inside six hours. [41]
Bernard Gomersall (Leeds Harehills) holds the record for consecutive wins, with four from 1963 to 1966, and with a total of four wins shares with Stephen Moore (Hertford & Ware AC) the record for the most number of wins overall. [42]
The first woman to run from London to Brighton was Dale Greig of Tannahill Harriers, who started one hour in front of the men's race in 1972 and finished in 8 h 30 min 4 s. At the prize giving dinner in the evening she was presented with a special award and given a standing ovation. At the same time Ernest Neville announced his retirement from the role of race organiser, and the Mayor of Brighton presented him with a souvenir of Brighton to mark his seven decades association with events on the Brighton road. [43] In 1979 three women participated unofficially, the first to finish being Leslie Watson of London Olympidaes in 6 h 55 min 11 s, and the following year she also won the first official women's race in 6 h 56 min 10 s. The Northern Rock Trophy presented to the winner of the lady's race was named after its sponsors, the Northern Rock Building Society. [44]
Hilary Walker holds the records for the most wins and the most consecutive wins in the women's race. She finished fourth in the women's race in 1985, third in 1986, then won it three years in succession from 1988 and added two more in 1996 and 1999. In 1988 in Blackpool she set a women's world record for 48-hours that remained the British record until 2023. She also served as president of Serpentine running club, as general secretary of the International Association of Ultrarunners, and has been inducted into the Ultrarunning Hall of Fame. [45] [46]
The distance of the race varied from a low of 51 miles 1,607 yards (83.5 km) to a maximum of 55 miles (88.5 km), which means that the lowest time may not be the best performance. For the men the lowest time recorded was the 5 h 11 min 2 s by Alastair Wood of Aberdeen in 1972 when the course measured 52 miles 1,172 yards (84.7 km). Allowing for these differences the best performance is 5 h 15 min 15 s by Ian Thompson in 1980 when the course measured 54 miles 460 yards (87.3 km). This is equivalent to running two 2:32 marathons back to back. For the women, however, the fastest time is also the best performance, Carolyn Hunter-Rowe's 6 h 34 min 10 s in 1993 was achieved over the longest version of the course when it measured 55 miles (88.5 km).
In July 1954, Derek Reynolds of Blackheath Harriers won the only known race from London to Brighton and back in 14 h 54 min 59 s. The only other finisher, of nine starters, was L. Pocock in 15 h 22 min 6 s. [47]