THE 2026 Beacon Beast marathon and half marathon was held on Sunday, April 19 with the respective winners being Johnny Hesnan and David Crawford.

Held around Bodmin and the surrounding villages, runners tackle a variety of roads and public footpaths with a series of fantastic views to make it more worthwhile.

The half marathon part of the event is race eight out of 12 in the 2025/26 Cornish Multi-Terrain Race Series and was won by Crawford in a time of 1:33:15, more than seven minutes clear of Falmouth Running Club’s Tom Carthey.

Newquay Road Runners’ Jonny Colaco rounded off the top three ahead of Liam O’Neill (Hayle Runners).

Hesnan won the marathon by an even bigger margin, his time of 3:04:16 was more than 13 minutes clear of Bradley Parsons (St Austell Running Club) who took second in 3:17:29.

Truro Running Club’s Alex Marples (3:25:36) was enough for third.

In total, 77 runners took on the full marathon with 253 crossing the line in the shorter distance.

The top three in the marathon age-groups were: Female Under 35: 1 Caitlin Mulroy (St Austell Athletes RC) – 4:06:34; 2 Torie Brown (unattached) – 4:18:33; 3 Lily Chubb (unattached) – 4:38:49; F35-39: 1 Elizabeth Hurst (unattached) – 5:37:06; 2 Ruth McCalley (Plymouth Musketeers) – 5:38:06; 3 N/A; F40-44: 1 Fiona Gamble (Hayle Runners) – 4:18:41; 2 Emily Cameron (unattached) – 4:24:59; 3 Lucy Foley-Norman (Fremington Trailblazers) – 4:36:54; F45-49: 1 Sara Evans (unattached) – 4:40:32; 2 Rebecca Martin (Carn Runners) – 5:33:54; 3 Lucy Holt (Chew Valley Snails) – 5:55:39; F50-54: 1 Gail Hartill (unattached) – 4:29:35; 2 Katrina Smale (NDRR) – 5:12:44; 3 Suzanne Dean (Chew Valley Snails) – 5:55:29; F55-59: 1 Nicky Brenton (Bodmin RC) – 5:30:41; 2 Eileen Fitzgerald (100 Marathon Club) – 5:37:17; 3 Heather Wells (unattached) – 6:09:11; F60-64: 1 Eileen Hawken (unattached) – 5:22:19; 2 and 3 N/A; F65-69: 1 Sarah Wilkinson (Newquay RR) – 6:09:11; 2 and 3 N/A; F70-74: N/A; F75-79: 1 Jenny Mills (Launceston RR) – 5:41:42.

Male Under 35: 1 Bradley Parsons (St Austell RC) – 3:17:29; 2 Kieran Murrant (unattached) – 3:49:16; 3 Monty Purcell (unattached) – 3:53:23; M35-39: 1 Johnny Hesnan (Wadebridge RC) – 3:04:16; 2 Joel Scoble (Falmouth RC) – 3:53:32; 3 Leo Oates (unattached) – 4:20:44; M40-44: 1 Tom Davey (CD Performance) – 3:34:15; 2 Stuart Chappell (Perran Trail Runners) – 5:03:00; Tim Hill (unattached) – 5:06:30; M45-49: 1 Alex Marples (Truro RC) – 3:25:36; 2 Paco Bernad (unattached) – 3:48:39; 3 Nigel Swift (Perran Trail Runners) – 3:52:12; M50-54: 1 Andrew Harverson (Truro RC) – 3:36:41; 2 Marty Barnfield (unattached) – 4:19:59; 3 David Wilcox (Truro RC) – 5:33:59; M55-59: 1 Jason Bibby (unattached) – 4:28:48; 2 Michael Budd (St Austell RC) – 4:30:21; 3 James Wilson (100 Marathon Club) – 4:41:47; M60-64: 1 Patrick Munn (unattached) – 4:30:09; 2 and 3 N/A; M65-69, 70-74, 75-79 and 80-plus: all N/A.

The top three in each age group in the Beasty half were as follows: Female Under 35: 1 Emma Clarke (St Austell RC) – 2:13:10; 2 Emma Stephens (Bodmin RC) – 2:18:17; 3 Florence Davies-Kirsop (Hayle Runners) – 2:20:24; F35-39: 1 Lucy Williams (Truro RC) – 2:00:30; 2 Fay Cameron (Newquay RR) – 2:16:27; 3 Emily Way (Wadebridge RC) – 2:18:55; F40-44: 1 Clare Dale (St Austell RC) – 2:03:38; 2 Meg Chapman (Falmouth RC) – 2:21:47; 3 Charlotte Sidebotham (unattached) – 2:29:02; F45-49: 1 Claire Stone (Larkfield Athletics) – 2:04:58; 2 Colette Clements (Newquay RR) – 2:18:25; 3 Karina Bowers (St Austell RC) – 2:24:35; F50-54: 1 Lisa Wilson (Truro RC) – 2:22:10; 2 Samantha Rendell (Falmouth RC) – 2:34:26; 3 Cheryl Rowley (unattached) – 2:36:51; F55-59: 1 Gail Aspden (unattached) – 2:06:55; 2 Alison Weir (Falmouth RC) – 2:22:01; 3 Meryl Elstone (unattached) – 2:24:01; F60-64: 1 Helen Mitchell (Truro RC) – 2:13:13; 2 Ros Stow (Bude RATs) – 2:21:35; 3 Judith Wilkes (Falmouth RC) – 2:40:21; F65-69: 1 Ruth Dorset (unattached) – 3:06:23; 2 Sue Sykes (unattached) – 3:16:11; 3 Margaret Clark (Hayle Runners) – 3:18:20; F70-74: 1 Doris Trueman (unattached) – 2:56:20; 2 Wendy Lowe (Bodmin Women RC) – 3:11:10; 3 Clare Greenwood (Retford AC) – 3:29:43.

Male Under 35: 1 Toby Peters (Truro RC) – 1:44:36; 2 Marc Smerdon (St Austell Athletes RC) – 1:44:54; 3 David Measdorp (Truro RC) – 1:46:28; M35-39: 1 David Crawford (Pure Endurance Triathletes) – 1:33:15; 2 Liam O’Neill (Hayle Runners) – 1:42:32; 3 Charles Buscombe (Newquay RR) – 1:54:04; M40-44: 1 Tom Carthey (Falmouth RC) – 1:40:54; 2 Neil Carter (Newquay RR) – 1:46:52; 3 Jon Blemings (Wadebridge RC) – 1:55:30; M45-49: 1 Simon Hambury (Falmouth RC) – 1:54:20; 2 James Youlden (St Austell RC) – 1:54:26; 3 Leo Muid (Falmouth RC) – 1:55:13; M50-54: 1 Jonny Colaco (Newquay RR) – 1:42:01; 2 Antony Jarvis (Bude RATs) – 1:55:12; 3 Mike Dowrick (St Austell RC) – 2:00:30; M55-59: 1 Greg Dufour-Cox (Falmouth RC) – 2:05:49; 2 Gary Richards (Truro RC) – 2:06:34; 3 Colin Bathe (Perran Trail Runners) – 2:08:27; M60-64: 1 Darrin Porter (Cornwall AC) – 1:54:09; 2 Alan Wherry (St Austell) – 2:02:40; 3 Kevin Eldin (Bude RATs) – 2:02:48; M65-69: 1 Jon Eldon (Hayle Runners) – 1:55:13; 2 Andrew Vosper (Bodmin RC) – 2:27:01; 3 Philippe Nuninger (St Genies Sports Loisirs) – 2:34:07; M70-74: 1 Peter Brocklehurst (St Austell Athletes RC) – 2:20:43; 2 Stephen Hutchinson (Bude RATs) – 2:32:19; 3 Jonathan Holt (unattached) – 2:53:02; M75-79: 1 Des Evans (Newquay RR) – 3:31:34; 2 and 3 N/A.