My second marathon but this was my first time running the Brighton Marathon, having previously ran the BM10k a few years back. The start is in Preston Park, which is about 15-20mins walk from the main train station, it's easy to find on race day, plenty of runners making their way in the morning. 

Bib collection is in the couple of days prior to the race which is a logistical headache when you don't live locally, but on the plus side, you get to select your start pen based on current fitness. The race village is a bit of walk from the station, but apart from that the pack collection was very efficient and simple (I went at lunch time on Saturday). You also collect your tshirt with the bib which was a decent Brighton Marathon t-shirt (male/female fit available), although not a "finishers" tshirt, they sell those separately, which annoyed me when I found out, but the race tshirt is enough, it might not say 'finisher' but it's nice enough.

The organisation in Preston Park was very good, the corralls are clearly marked out and the start went smoothly. Plenty of portaloos both in the park and in the corralls and on the way to the start line, although as always, large queues.

The marathon route starts off going up an incline around the park, then there's a couple of more hills before you hit the seafront and turn left, where the route rolls along the ups and downs. It's a fair few out and backs, which is useful if you're running with others who are faster/slower as there is plenty of opportunity to look out for your team/buddies, which is a good distraction. Once back into Brighton you'll hit the half way mark before doing another loop before coming back to the seafront and head out for the dreaded power station loop. It's also a chance of a respite from the crowds and focusing on getting to Mile 20 and beyond, and whilst it's a little soul destroying, it wasn't quite as bad as I had expected. The final miles are run along the seafront, which this year was quite windy and we battled a strong head wind which made it tough going. Once you hit the final mile the crowd support is back and the finish line is a welcome sight. Most of the central route has barriers, but even the areas that didn't, including the seafront, didn't have the usual city centre issues of spectators getting in the way of the runners.

The water stations provided only paper cups this year, but carrying my own water bottle they were always helpful and willing to top it up, only downside is the additional time taken. There was plenty of water as far as I could see. The aid stations are a little spread out in the first half but towards the end they are at every mile. There could have been more portaloos on the route, the queues were very long at all of them in the first half at least (I lost 10mins queueing when I eventually gave in and stopped). The crowd support had a seemingly never ending supply of jelly babies, oranges, bananas and other goodies, in addition to the official gel stations (high5 isogel berry flavour).

Race goody bag was pretty good, could have done with a bar of something to eat though, but there were food vans in the race village. Coming out of the race area was slow, could have done with moving the meeting areas a little bit further away as too congested at the exit.

The finish line is a fair walk to get back to the station (which is also up hill), and from getting stuck in the crowds this year, I would recommend to cross further along the beach if possible rather than walking back along the seafront, it was incredibly congested.

Overall, this was a fantastic event. Organisation was great, the route was good (but hilly) and the support excellent. The only major downside (not being local) is having to collect the bib pre-race day, especially as you can travel down from London on the day and hotels in Brighton are pretty pricey, even when booked early. If I do it again I'd stay in the city centre rather than near the start, the walk in the morning isn't too bad (did it for BM10k a few years ago) and it's a little noisier, but the start is quite far away from everything so no food etc nearby, it wasn't worth just being able to stroll across the road in morning.