After seven years of hard work, crushing setbacks and a fair bit of soul-searching Tim Hutchings' dream will finally come true this weekend.

Few believed it was possible when Hutchings first raised the idea of Brighton hosting a marathon back in 2003 but they will be proved wrong when Steve Ovett sets 10,000-odd runners on their way from Preston Park on Sunday.

The police initially dismissed the 51-year-old’s plans out of hand while the council were also unconvinced but Hutchings refused to give up on his vision of creating a world class marathon to rival the likes of London, New York and Chicago.

One of his original partners even walked away from the project believing it had no future but the former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist stuck to his guns and slowly but surely his dream turned into a reality.

Hutchings said: “Seven years ago I indentified that I personally had all the knowledge to put something like this together. I made an initial approach to the council, met a few people and drove around the city to look at a potential course but I didn’t do much about it for the next four years as I was too busy earning a living and looking after my kids.

“The seed had been planted though and I was always aware of it on the backburner."

Read about Hutchings' big plans to make Brighton rival the London Marathon in The Argus today