Samuel Blackwell, who won the competition, was presented with a £50 Brooks Voucher redeemable through Sweatshop stores and a £50 arts voucher. Samuel received his original drawing framed and his winning design can be seen on the back of all 500 Youth Race runners this weekend at the Brighton Half Marathon.

Samuel was joined by his fellow winners who won a highly commended prize of their designs framed in each age category, Tasmin Golding (14-16), Luca Hallam (11-13) and Lucy Osborn (8-10).

Join the winners at the Brighton Half Marathon this weekend, Sunday 19th February, on Madeira Drive. For more information visit www.brightonhalfmarathon.com, follow BrightonHalf on Twitter or BrightonHalfMarathon on Facebook.

A t-shirt design competition themed ‘Running by the sea’ which was launched in August attracted over 120 entries from kids and teenagers across Sussex. The panel faced a difficult task in choosing the winning design which is going to be printed on the t-shirts given to every Youth Race runner across all three age groups on race day.

Entries had been flooding in fast, proving that the Brighton Half Marathon has been growing in popularity over the last few years and is now a race not to miss in the running calendar. In previous years race places were limited to 8,000 and the 2011 race sold out by 15^th December 2010.

In its 22^nd year, the Brighton Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 19th February 2012, starting at finishing on Madeira Drive at Brighton’s seafront.

Race Director Becky Stevens commented: “We want to thank everyone who has registered for the 2012 race and has helped us grow to 10,000 runners, selling out in record time. We have a great team behind the race, a superb following and full community support.”

Despite public places being sold out it’s not too late to get involved. There are some places left for teams entering the Corporate Charity Challenge or you can run for one of the associated charities. Charities with available places include the official charities The Sussex Beacon, WaterAid, RISE and Pass It On Africa. Other charities with limited places for the Brighton Half Marathon are The Lily Foundation, The Edward Starr Charitable Trust, St Dunstan’s, The National Brain Appeal, The Argus Appeal, TB Alert, The Nasio Trust, Mind, Macmillan Cancer Support, The Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Full details and links to registration pages are on www.brightonhalfmarathon.com/charities/run-for-charity.

Young runners can still sign up for the 1 mile Youth Races, aimed at the age groups 8-10, 11-13 and 14-16 years. Cost to enter the 1 mile Youth Races is £3 (affiliated) or £4 (non-affiliated), go to http://brightonhalfmarathon.com/enter-now/youth-races to register. Entry for the Youth Races closes on 3^rd February 2012.

The Brighton Half Marathon team is also still looking for volunteers, which gives you the opportunity to be part of the amazing race day atmosphere without tackling the 13.1 miles. A variety of roles are available with full training given, please go to www.brightonhalfmarathon.com/volunteers for further details and to sign up as a volunteer.

The Brighton Half Marathon is organised by and the main fundraiser for The Sussex Beacon.

Visit the Brighton Half Marathon website www.brightonhalfmarathon.com for further information, join the Facebook page www.facebook.com/brightonhalfmarathon or follow @BrightonHalf on Twitter.

You can still register for the Corporate Charity Challenge team event here. You can run for Charity here, register for a Half Marathon Premier Package here, register for Youth Races here or become a Volunteer here.

There is still time for you to enter our great t-shirt competition, we have extended the deadline so please pass this on!!

The Sussex Beacon, the charity which organises the Brighton Half Marathon, is giving young people aged 8-16 years the chance to create a design for the Youth Race t-shirt for 2012. The winning design will be proudly worn by the hundreds of Youth Race runners taking part in the Brighton Half Marathon Youth Races on Sunday 19 February 2012. There are prizes for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd winning entries and we have arranged to have the winning entries and those which are ‘highly commendable’ to be displayed at the Brighton Jubilee Library in early January 2012.

The Brighton Half Marathon is in its 22^nd year and is one of the longest established and most popular seafront road races in the UK.

For further details on how to enter the competition please use this link http://brightonhalfmarathon.com/enter-now/youth-races

Thanks,

Brighton Half Marathon Team

In the next 20 seconds, dirty water will kill a child like Mtisunge (below)

That’s 4,000 children who die every day simply because they have to drink dirty water.

Run to support WaterAid and you can help us save lives.

Mtisunge Simeaon, aged nine, struggles to carry home a 20 litre container of dirty river water – a three-mile round trip she has to do every day. She says:

“Sometimes I go three times, sometimes four times to the river, I go more than my mother. I carry a twenty litre container. It is difficult to get back, I feel pains when I carry it. My head aches when I get back. I want to have a job when I grow up – I want to be a teacher.”

Help us to provide clean water and sanitation to children like Mtisunge by running the Brighton Half Marathon to support WaterAid.

WaterAid works throughout Africa and Asia with some of the world’s poorest people. Every hour we build a new waterpoint. And every hour we help over 100 people to get clean, safe water.

Raising £200 could pay for a hand pump in Malawi, or £500 in sponsorship could pay for a public tap stand in Ethiopia, for example. By running the Brighton Half Marathon to support WaterAid, your every step will save lives.

Find out more at www.wateraid.org/brightonhalfmarathon

Partners of the Brighton Half Marathon were on site to share their knowledge, and the day included nutrition advice by a Lucozade Sports Scientist as well as a presentation by Studio57 about injury prevention, training plans and the three best strength exercises for runners. The Studio57 team also took everyone out for a run along the seafront and up to the start of the race next February, advising on warm up and stretching techniques as well as pace running.

Any running and race related questions were answered, and everyone went home feeling inspired and confident with new knowledge and tips on how to train for and run in the Brighton Half Marathon.

Angela Sheard, who had travelled over from France to attend the training day, commented: ‘I want to thank the whole team for a terrific day. From the warm, smiley greeting as I walked in to the encouraging “see you at the finish line” as I left, I felt included, informed and stimulated to believe in myself by all the people who had put the day together so professionally. I went away feeling happy and inspired, I can’t wait for race day to come around now.’

All training days take place at the Seattle Hotel at Brighton Marina, the Official Hotel Partner for the 2012 race, with a Women Only training day taking place on 29^th October and an Intermediate training day taking place on 12^th November. Places for the Brighton Half Marathon Training Days are limited and great value at £20 which includes tea and coffee, lunch, a free Brighton Half Marathon Brooks training t-shirt as well as a goodie bag with products, magazines and discount vouchers from the sponsors.

The Brighton Half Marathon, which is organised by and the main fundraiser for The Sussex Beacon, takes place on Sunday 19^th February 2012, starting and finishing on Brighton seafront. Registration to the Brighton Half Marathon, the Youth Races and the Corporate Charity Challenge is open.

Sponsors for the Brighton Half Marathon training days include Breathe Unity Network, Brooks, Sweatshop, Studio57 Sports Injury Clinic, Lucozade and the Seattle Hotel Brighton. Thanks to Men’s Running, Women’s Running and Brighton Active for providing copies of your magazines on the day too and Juice 107.2 for excellent pens!

For further information about the Brighton Half Marathon 2012 please go to www.brightonhalfmarathon.com, join the Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrightonHalfMarathonor follow ‘BrightonHalf’ on Twitter.

To book for the women’s training day register here: Brighton Half Marathon Women’s Training Day

To book for the intermediate training day register here: Brighton Half Marathon Intermediate Training Day

The app is available for free download through the Apple app store, search “Brighton Half Marathon 2012″ or go http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/brighton-half-marathon-2012/id470194603?mt=8. Register today if you haven’t already, places for the 2012 race are going fast!

In its 22^nd year, the Brighton Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 19th February 2012 with an increased number of 10,000 runners’ places for the Olympic year. The Brighton Half Marathon is one of the longest established and most popular seafront road race events in the UK, the first major half marathon of the new year and perfectly suited as a warm up for all the spring marathons. The new flatter, faster route from 2011, mostly along the seafront, received a lot of praise and positive feedback from runners with lots of new PBs achieved.

This new app, developed in partnership with Trustco Media Services, makes it even easier to register, be a part of and train with the Brighton Half Marathon. Trustco Media Services are the Official App Partner for the Brighton Half Marathon 2012.

The framework of the app is universal, working on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices, with the content optimised for iphone and retina displays. With it being a native app it also has got the potential to include and use the iOS features from devices.

“We are very excited about our new app launching, we are a community-driven race and this will allow us to be even closer to our runners as well as attract new runners. We have really enjoyed working with Trustco Media Services to develop the app and look forward to seeing the various features being used by our runners.” commented Becky Stevens, Race Director.

The app is available for free download through the Apple app store, search “Brighton Half Marathon 2012″ or go http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/brighton-half-marathon-2012/id470194603?mt=8. Register today if you haven’t already, places are going fast!

The Brighton Half Marathon, which is organised by and the main fundraiser for The Sussex Beacon, takes place on Sunday 19^th February 2012, starting and finishing on Brighton seafront. Registration to the Youth Races and the Corporate Charity Challenge is open too.

Visit www.brightonhalfmarathon.com for further information, like the Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrightonHalfMarathonor follow @Brightonhalf on Twitter.

Download the Brighton Half Marathon 2012 APP NOW

The Brighton Half Marathon, taking place in February, also brings valuable revenue into the city during the winter months and before the start of the tourist season. The event has something for everyone with the Half Marathon, a distance of 13.1 miles as the main race, the 1 mile Youth Race for young runners aged 8 to 16 and the Corporate Charity Challenge, where business teams enter and raise valuable funds for various charities.

In its 22nd year with the 2012 race on the 19th February, registration is open and entries are flooding in fast. The Corporate Charity Challenge has had an amazing response making charity fundraising and inclusion even easier. Having helped charities raise over an estimated £10 Million to date, the Half Marathon is pushing further to reach out to charities in particular in the BN vicinity through the Corporate Charity Challenge.

“The Brighton Half Marathon has something for everyone. We work closely with over 40 charities in the BN postcode area on the Corporate Charity Challenge, allowing involvement where normally some of these charities just cannot afford places” said Becky Stevens, Race Manager. “We are very much a community event and inclusion is high on our list of priorities. Being a charity organising the event we are very aware of the demands on a charity and how funding cuts can hugely effect the amazing work these various charities do for and within our local community.”

The Brighton Half Marathon is organised by The Sussex Beacon, a clinical care centre for men and women living with HIV based in Brighton and is a primary and vital fundraiser for The Sussex Beacon. WaterAid are the international charity partner, RISE the local charity partner and Passingiton is the Youth Race charity partner. The Corporate Charity Challenge is where businesses can register and raise money for the charity partners and the local charities within the BN postcode.

The Brighton Half Marathon has recently been nominated for best community event for The Argus Achievement Awards sponsored by EDF Energy. Visit The Argus website to find out more information about this: www.theargus.co.uk/yourargus/argusachievementawards/community_event/

Make a difference in your community now and register today, go to www.brightonhalfmarathon.com/enter-now for further information or join the Facebook page www.facebook.com/brightonhalfmarathon

Based on the success of the previous training day as well as the feedback received, runners have got a few options to get professional advice and expert guidance on how to maximise their running potential in the Brighton Half Marathon 2012.

The Beginner’s Training Day takes place on Saturday 15th October and is aimed at runners who have never run the half marathon distance before, want to step up to a half from a 5K or 10K or just want to update their training methods.

The Intermediate Training Day, on Saturday 12th November, is aimed at intermediate runners who have run a half marathon before, want to improve their training routine and maybe even push for a new PB.

The Women Only Training Day, created for beginner and intermediate runners, has been confirmed for Saturday 29th October. Go to http://brightonhalfmarathon.com/runners/training-day for further information about the various training days and to book your place now.

All training days cover training techniques and training plans, nutritional advice, injury prevention and treatment, stretching techniques, specific strengthening exercises for runner, advice on running kit and shoes, an inspirational talk as well as the logistics of race day. You will also go out for a 5K training run along part of the race route and see where you will start and finish the race in February 2012.

The training days take place at the Seattle Hotel at Brighton Marina, Official Hotel Partner for Brighton Half Marathon. Ample parking and changing facilities are available at the Seattle.

Places for the Brighton Half Marathon Training Days are limited and great value at £20 which includes morning tea and coffee with a fruit platter, a healthy lunch option, afternoon tea and coffee plus a free Brighton Half Marathon Brooks training t-shirt as well as a goodie bag with products, magazine and discount vouchers from our sponsors.

There is also a Charity Runner Training Day which takes place on Saturday 14th January 2012, further details about this will be announced shortly.

The Brighton Half Marathon, which is organised by and the main fundraiser for The Sussex Beacon, takes place on Sunday 19th February 2012, starting and finishing on Brighton seafront. Registration to the Brighton Half Marathon, the Youth Races and the Corporate Charity Challenge is open.

Sponsors for the Brighton Half Marathon training days include Breathe Unity Network, Brooks, Sweatshop, Studio57 Sports Injury Clinic, Lucozade and the Seattle Hotel Brighton.

For further information about the Brighton Half Marathon 2012 please go to www.brightonhalfmarathon.com, join the Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrightonHalfMarathon or follow ‘BrightonHalf’ on Twitter.