LARGE inflatable farm animals ran a five kilometre race alongside a group of vegan athletes to celebrate a meat-free way of life.

An inflatable duck and chickens joined more than 170 members of Vegan Runners taking part in a Park Run in Hove Park as part of a weekend of celebrating veganism.

Organiser Dave Arnold said: “This is part of the Vegan Runners UK big Brighton weekend, which centres around our annual group meeting.

“Brighton is a great place to host it because it’s very vegan.

“We started with a curry on Friday night and we had a series of events planned across the weekend, including Sunday’s Brighton 10K.”

Runners travelled from all around the country to join in.

Manymregulars said it was the best Park Run attendance they had seen in Hove.

Dan Grundy, 43, who represented England at the 2018 Marathon Masters, said: “It’s important to represent vegans as a runner to support the animals, compassionate living and to show you can do these things and have be athletic while following a plant-based diet.”

Vegan Runners was founded in 2004 and has 49 groups.

Founder Peter Simpson said: “We started from nothing and after five years we had around 100 members, it was slow going until 2014. Then it really accelerated markedly.

“By 2015 we had 700 members and now we have more than 3,000.”

Vegan runner and massage therapist Maria Pali said: “My running claim to fame is I’ve run more than 150 marathons, including 52 in as many weeks, and I’ve done it all on a vegan diet.

“The key is not thinking about the meat you can’t eat but instead focusing on all the fantastic new foods you are trying.”