Review: The 2025 Brighton Half Marathon was the best EVER
- Jamie Hinks
- Mar 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 23
Last Sunday I took on one of my favourite races, the Brighton Half Marathon, and in the process achieved a huge personal best at the distance by shaving over three minutes off my previous best time.
After a start to the year that has seen me taking on some epic races on the trails including the English National Cross Country Championships last week, it was high time to get back on the tarmac for one week at least.
For this year’s edition, the organisers introduced a new course layout and the conditions
were close to perfect for running a quick time. You can find out everything about the 2025 Brighton Half Marathon below.
2025 Brighton Half Marathon Stats
Distance | 13.1 miles |
Date | Sunday, 2nd March, 2025 |
Start Time | 9:30AM |
Location | Brighton, East Sussex, UK |
Entry Fee | £40.50 |
Course Profile | Road. Mostly flat. |
Elevation Gain | 167ft / 51m |
Website |
Even though this is one of my favourite races, the weather conditions are always a huge factor in how well the race pans out. The route takes you along Brighton & Hove seafront and is completely open to the elements - especially wind. It means checking conditions for the week leading up to the race and trying to put together a strategy based on that.
This time around the weather wasn’t a big issue as the sun was shining and the wind was relatively low. It meant feeling 100% confident on the start line, which has often not been the case in this race.
The 2025 Brighton Half Marathon Course
The second big plus for this year was the new course. The organisers made a big change to the course by moving the start to Hove Lawns and it was the best decision they could have made.
For previous years, the start area was on Madeira Drive and this created issues with:
Space - It was always busy and slow getting down to the starting pens as spectators and runners were all crushed into one fairly small path between the beach and the road.
The Annoying First Turn - Around 500 metres after the start the course turned round a hairpin bend and up a hill thus making the field of runners slow down due to it becoming a bottleneck.
The new start on Hove Lawns got rid of both those factors and the race is all the better for it. Getting to the starting pens is now a pleasant experience with plenty of space to find where you need to go. Once you get started, it’s a straight road for around one mile before you turn left to go up to the Level as opposed to the hairpin bend.
After the detour in-land to the Level, you turn back towards the Palace Pier before heading out East to just beyond the Marina. You then turnaround and run until you get to the Aquarium roundabout. It’s then up Madeira Drive for a short stint to the bottom of Dukes Mound before you turn for the long slog to Hove Lagoon. Once you reach Hove Lagoon, it’s a turn for the finish two miles ahead.
The finish area is also much more spacious than previous years and it was easy to find your friends after the finish line.
You can see a Strava flyover of the 2025 Brighton Half Marathon course below
My Race
I went into this race with a solid strategy alongside my club-mate Frankie and we followed it to perfection.
The plan was to run splits of 6:45/mi or faster, depending on feel, and then leave enough in the tank to push it harder at the 8-mile mark before giving it our all for the final 3 miles (roughly 5km).
From the start, the legs felt great and quickly realised it was going to be a PB day, the only question by how much. The biggest challenge of the course is the slight incline by the Palace Pier roundabout, which was also into the wind. Whilst this was the second slowest mile (6:36/mi) it was still far ahead of the 6:45/mi target.
Digging deeper into the stats, all four of the 5K splits were around the 20 minute mark and were as follows:
First 5K - 20:18
Second 5K - 20:18
Third 5K - 20:06
Fourth 5K - 19:44
Additionally, the final 10K was my second fastest at the distance (39:40) and it makes me feel like racing a 10K would see me knock a couple of minutes off that time.
It was the first time in a while I’ve raced with someone else and it was a big help. You keep each other honest on the way round and have a person to chat to when it inevitably starts to get tough.
My goal was a new PB of somewhere between 1:25:00 and 1:27:00, with the top end of that where I ended up as my chip time was 1:25:04.
It was also a brilliant day for my club Arena 80 AC. We had 49 runners in the field who put up some very strong performances and a team of club mates were volunteering at the Peace Statue close to the 9-mile mark. It's day like this when you're proud to be part of a club.
Gear
Shoes | Adidas Adios Pro 3 - Pink |
Watch | Garmin Forerunner 965 |
Sunglasses | Sungod Ultras |
Top | Soar Race Vest |
Shorts | Janji Men's 8" Trail Half Tight |
Socks | Hilly Marathon Fresh Ankle Socks |
This was the first time I’ve worn the Adidas Adios Pro 3 in a race and they were a brilliant shoe. Never felt like I was losing speed at any stage or that my legs were feeling heavy. The propulsion also really helps to keep you going. Would recommend.
Fuelling Strategy
On the morning of every race I make sure I'm up early enough to have a large bowl of porridge topped with honey, nuts, seeds and fruit, all washed down with a strong coffee.
I also had a 500ml bottle of water with half a Precision Hydration PH 1000 tablet dissolved in there, which I drank before the warm up.
This was the first race where I exclusively used Maurten Gel 100 as fuel. I took one gel 10 minutes before the start then had a further two gels at 6 miles and 9 miles during the race.
The sun was much stronger than I expected and made me sweat more than I anticipated. That meant taking on a Precision Hydration Electrolyte Capsule (250mg sodium) at around 8 miles and also grabbing water at every on course water station.
Summary
On a perfect day for running, I took full advantage of the conditions and smashed a new PB time. The 2025 Brighton Half Marathon organisers have did a great job of reconfiguring the course and I don't see any reason why I won't be back next year to try to get below 85 minutes!
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