Hundreds of youngsters piled into Preston Park for the Mini Mile races as a warm-up for the Brighton Marathon. Ryan Benjamin caught up with two familiar faces on Saturday at the curtain-raiser.

European long distance champion Jo Pavey was the race starter for the Brighton Marathon but she was not the only Olympian to make an appearance as she was joined by Katharine Merry, who won bronze at the Sydney games in 2000.

Both women spoke of the importance of engaging young people in sport as the marathon began with the children’s races in the Mini Mile race series.

Jo said: “I’m really excited to be here, it's great to see kids getting out there and running, it inspires me to see them brimming with enthusiasm.”

Showing children that being active can be fun was an important part of the day and Jo believes this is key to future participation.

She said: “Some kids are out there running really well, they might go on to take an interest in the sport but the main thing is to enjoy themselves.

“It’s lovely to see their faces when they cross the line, to see how proud they are and this is where it all starts, the main thing is that they enjoy taking part.”

The Brighton Marathon has been praised for its family friendly attitude.

Jo said: “This is such a lovely atmosphere and it’s great to have such an event on such a spectacular seafront, everyone’s up for it, it’s just a lovely place.”

Katharine Merry believes the race is a good introduction to sport for children.

She said: “You have to give them the opportunity to try it, you’ll have kids who think they’re probably quite good at running, but have never had the opportunity outside of school sports day.

“This is such a professionally run, big, proper event, it’s huge and we could have the next Olympian from Brighton.”

But Katharine said participating in organised sport is not the only benefit of the Mini Miles races.

She said: “They will make friends here, they’ll get into athletics and of course it’s the social element, the whole weekend is.

“Parents line up for the kids race, I love it, you can’t get better days than these for young kids.”

Katharine also enjoys the unique atmosphere of the Brighton Marathon.

She said: “It’s a really nice feeling in Brighton, they’ve really made it an event with a really nice, family friendly feel.”