London to Brighton road race

The London to Brighton road race was a competitive running race held on public roads from Westminster Bridge over the river Thames in central London, England, to the south coast resort of Brighton. The route was first covered by a professional pedestrian in 1825, and the first race took place in 1837. The era of open races organised by athletics clubs started in 1899, and in 1903 a newspaper offered significant prize money resulting in a race with almost one hundred starters that brought the event to much wider public notice. In 1924 an Englishman named Arthur Newton came from Natal in southern Africa specifically to break the record for the journey, and thirteen years later he mentored a South African named Hardy Ballington to break his own record. In 1951 a race was organised as part of the Festival of Britain, and the following year that became an annual event organised by the Road Runners Club. The first woman to cover the route was Dale Greig of Tannahill Harriers in 1972, and women's races started unofficially in 1979 and officially in 1980. Competitors came not just from England but also from Canada, Eire, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. The distance of the race varied over the years so that the fastest time may not necessarily be the best performance. For the men, the fastest time was recorded by Alastair Wood of Aberdeen who ran 5 h 11 min 2 s in 1972, while the best performance is 5 h 15 min 15 s by Ian Thompson of Luton United Athletic Club in 1980 when the course measured 54 miles 460 yards (87.3 km). For the women the shortest time is the best performance since 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). Advances in the volume and speed of traffic on the roads made it increasingly difficult to provide for the safety of both competitors and officials, and harder to recruit appropriate numbers of volunteer marshalls, and the race was last held in 2005. In 1921 Surrey Athletic Club organised a 10-stage relay run over the route and in 1924 this became an open race that was held annually until 1966 when the sponsor withdrew.