Brighton marathon (photo: http://www.brightonmarathon.co.uk/)

Too late for Brighton Marathon 2014?

If you want to enter the 2014 Brighton Marathon as a private individual, you are too late, but you can run for one of over 400 charities who have places available! Local legs are needed for the Brighton Marathon 2014 to help Meningitis UK/Meningitis Trust stamp out the deadly disease, writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

Running for a charity gives you additional motivation. It increases your focus on those long winter nights and, when the training gets tough, it makes completing your Marathon even more rewarding. Charities will offer you incentives to help you reach your fundraising goals, as well as invaluable support and advice in the lead up to, and on your big day.

The race opened to 12,000 entries in 2010, with 7,589 participating on race day. It is now the second largest marathon in the UK and twelfth largest in Europe. The course starts at Preston Park and takes in some of the sights of central Brighton before heading East towards Rottingdean. The race then heads west out to and around Hove, before returning on the seafront and finishing on Madeira Drive, close to Brighton Pier.

Meningitis UK/Trust is urging people to take on Britain’s no. 2 marathon (after London) on Sunday, 6 April 2014. Meningitis UK/Trust has 15 guaranteed places available for the event, which will see more than 18,000 participants. Full support will be given before and after the epic 26.2-mile challenge and runners receive a free running vest or T-shirt and information pack on how to prepare.

Meningitis UK/Trust South and South East community fundraiser Kelly Jobanputra said: “We hope locals will lace up for this fledgling challenge for us, so we can fight the dreaded disease on all fronts. Every penny our runners raise will help fund cutting-edge research to eradicate meningitis, support those touched by the disease and raise lifesaving awareness.”

The merged charity needs to raise over £10,000 every day to fund its life-saving and life-changing services. Tragically, meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia continue to affect thousands of people in the UK every year and kill more children under five than any other infectious disease. Meningitis can strike with incredible speed and the symptoms are notoriously difficult to detect, often being confused with flu.

The Brighton Marathon website lists all the charities eligible to enter runners. To sign up or for more information on Meningitis UK/Trust , call Kelly Jobanputra on 0845 120 4766 or email Kellyj@meningitis-trust.org. 

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