ORGANISERS are hailing the 2009 Brentwood Half Marathon a triumph.

More than 3,500 runners took part in both the main event and the three mile fun run, which started in Sawyers Hall Lane on a shimmering, sunlit Sunday morning.

Andrew Law of Basildon Athletic Club completed the three mile fun run in 16 minutes and half marathon runner Paul Molyneux, 28, of Chelmsford's Springfield Striders, stormed home in just under an hour and 10 minutes.

More than 700 people took part in the fun run, including a team of heroes and villains from Corbets Tey Special School, Upminster, who walked off with the fancy dress prize.

And around 3,300 took part in the 13 mile half marathon, slightly fewer than last year.

The winning team were the Georgia Teenage Cancer Appeal backed by Brentwood School, with Billericay Striders and the team from sponsors Equity insurance in second and third places.

Brentwood a Becket Rotary Club president Graham Carter expects to make £30,000 for the charities they support.

"Of course a lot of the runners work for their own charities and we never know how much we make altogether," he said.

"This is our 28th year and we have built up gradually to become the most important event of its kind in Essex, if not the whole of southern England. All in all it's been another triumph.

"This year we have been under more pressure than ever from regulations and health and safety, which is why we have used a lot more stewards.

"Once we debrief we will be able to tell if next year we can safely increase the numbers taking part."

A crowd of about 2,000 crammed into Sawyers Hall Lane to see the racers off. The Royal British Legion junior band added to the fun by playing to the mass of lycra-clad athletes.

A number of runners were perturbed at the traffic still using the narrow country roads around Blackmore.

They were heard to shout angrily at passing cars to slow down. At one point traffic, passing hundreds of runners in the opposite carriageway, came face- to-face with bikers coming straight towards them.

Mr Carter said it would be part of the debrief this week to see if the police and county council should be asked to close marathon roads to traffic in future years.

Among the runners was a group of friends and family from the 350-member Thrift Green Trotters, based at the Brentwood Centre and headed by cancer sufferer Gerald Williams.

Mr Williams was forced to retire as a clerk of works and has undergone chemotherapy, but got the medical go-ahead to compete. "I feel bad for three days after treatment and expect it will take me a while to recover from the race, but it is good for both mind and body to take part," he told the Gazette.

His group included daughter Hannah McArthur of Ingrave, niece Pc Dawn Barrett of Brentwood Police, who last took part in the race 10 years ago, and accounts clerk Chris Easter of Doddinghurst. Mr Williams made it in two hours and 28 minutes, moments ahead of Hannah and Dawn. Chris came in 16 minutes ahead of them.