Brighton Marathon funds testing for local runners

As part of its commitment to develop athletics on the South Coast, the Brighton Marathon has initiated a partnership with England Athletics to offer lab based physiological testing to local runners.

The testing takes place at the University of Brighton Sport and Exercise Science Consultancy Unit in Eastbourne led by Alex Bliss, lead physiologist for the Marathon and England Athletics.

There will be four sessions each year, with the first taking place already last week. The athletes were handpicked by Neville Taylor of EA and included Sussex County Champion, Grace Baker and five other Sussex and Kent based athletes.

VO2 Max and lactate threshold testing took place and advice was offered to the coaches present on the optimum training pace for different workouts. The athletes’ lab results were also compared against elite level and national level norms.

The Brighton Marathon and England Athletics are giving equal funding to the initiative and further testing will take place later in the year.

The England Athletics initiative, in collaboration with Brighton Marathon provides an excellent opportunity for regional, talented junior athletes,” explained Bliss.

They will undergo assessments that are undertaken by many of their Olympic idols in preparation for the Olympic Games.

“We can use the information obtained to help the athletes and coaches correctly structure their future training to help improve performance using scientific understanding.”

The next testing session takes place in April.