Sunday 20th September, 2026
Our annual beach race, organized by Sporting Events UK, was held later than usual due to the tides and a mix-up by the council that led to them asking SEUK to choose another date at short notice. This resulted in fewer entrants than normal but the ~120 runners that gathered on Broadstairs beach for the 12.45 start had great conditions and a wonderful atmosphere. The sun broke through the clouds at midday, the music was playing and it was almost a shame to head off for a run.
The Race Director Barry Hopkins explained that each runner chooses their own path across the beaches until reaching Ramsgate harbour where we “bang” on the harbour wall, before turning back to Broadstairs. Barry alerted us that in one stretch there was a “Dachshund meet” with owners and ~30 little dogs getting together for a walk. Not something that he expected to include in a race briefing.
As runners headed across the sands, the first challenge was navigating through or around a very thick area of seaweed before hitting relatively firm, wet sand. As we ran round the bays, there were stretches of rocks, chalk, seaweed and more sand which challenged our balance and was quite draining in places. It was nice to get onto relatively firm sand for the stretch across Ramsgate beach, where our lovely marshals were handing out water.
For the return, the wind was against us a little, but the marshals were loud and encouraging and soon enough we had the final climb across the seaweed to reach the finish line.
The winner of the race finished in a very fast 27:57 and the final finishers came in at 1:54 showing that the race welcomed a range of abilities and paces.
Our very sincere thanks to all our marshals who stayed to encourage and welcome every finisher. We would like to call out Claire Morgan who took on the marshal secretary role and dealt with a number of last minute changes without a flinch!
Below are the team results – if we missed anyone, please accept our apologies.
Jim Allen – 31:26
Elly Maggs – 32:17 (1st female)
Mark Croucher – 33:03
Julie Williams – 37:48 (2nd female)
Scot Haggarty – 38:33
Liz Brown – 39:07
Graham Scott – 43:29
Andy Whitnell – 46:10
Maisie Kemp – 46:34
Jo Kemp – 46:41
Tamasin Drumm – 54:50
Gaynor Shelvey – 1:54:25
