Brighton half marathon course 'too long'

Competitors' times have been adjusted taking into account the extra distance

The organisers of the Brighton half marathon race have admitted they got the distance of the course wrong.

Competitors were expecting to run 13.1 miles on 19 February, but the route was nearly a third of a mile longer.

The organisers of the race said "human error" in laying the route between mile four and mile five made it 13.42 miles.

The organisers have issued an apology to the 7,427 runners who took part in the half marathon.

Becky Stevens, the director of the Brighton half marathon, said: "The barriers that were put out for the turn at the end at Roedean, between miles four and five, were unfortunately put slightly in the wrong place."

Ms Stevens said the roads were closed 10 minutes before the race starts.

She explained: "We don't really have the luxury of going round and checking everything.

"We will be implementing some new additional measures ready for the 2013 race to prevent this from happening again."

Ms Stevens added the runners' times on the half marathon's website were being amended, taking the extra distance into account.