Half marathon hits the road

The Hastings Half Marathon, recently voted the best race of its kind in the United Kingdom for the fifth consecutive year by Runners' World magazine, will take centre stage on Sunday.

And the 23rd staging of the 13.1 mile-long Hastings Lions Club presentation promises to be the biggest and best ever.

Race director Eric Hardwick said: "It's the strongest field we've had since probably 1989 and we've got more fun runners than ever before."

A high class line-up has assembled for the men's and women's races with Simon Kasimili and Birhan Dagne attempting to become the first ever three-time Hastings winners.

They will be at the head of a record entry which is expected to be in the region of 5,000 following an unprecedented late surge of entries.

Anybody else wishing to join in is urged to do so as soon as possible via the official race website www.hastings-half.co.uk

Proceedings will get under way from Sea Road, St Leonards, at 10.30am and the lead runners will be back there for the finish little more than an hour later.