Goring man finishes top ten in San Diego 10k run

Matthew Brunton, 37, decided to take part in the run while celebrating his wife Maria’s birthday in California.

Prior to flying to San Diego Matthew had no intention of competing, but decided to do an online search out of interest.

Experienced runner Matthew finished the race in a time of 42 minutes and 49 seconds, placing him third in the 30-39 category and 10th out of 337 participants for the whole run.

He said: “I had no clue how well I’d done – or if I’d done well at all – not until someone told me and suggested I stick around for the podiums.”

Matthew described the run as ‘the best running experience’ he has ever had.

He said: “The whole experience was absolutely awesome, going up on the podium and having the race divided into age made it feel so personal.

“I was one of the only English people there so I wore my England shirt with pride.

“To top it all of there was an entire breakfast bar with pancakes, waffles and a beer at the end.”

Matthew has been an avid runner since secondary school, but in the last few years took the activity more seriously – even signing up to the Brighton marathon.

He said: “I am gutted that the marathon has had to be cancelled but the organisers have projected it to take place in September so I will continue to train for that.

“I also hope to do the Worthing 10k – it will be my third time running it while raising money for Care for Veterans.