Hungover woman in hen costume finishes third at Brighton Marathon

Emily Marchant, a bride-to-be from Swansea, U.K., turned her celebratory weekend in Brighton into an incredible distance running feat by running the city’s marathon after a lively night out with her bridesmaids. Dressed in a hen costume and fuelled by just three and a half hours of sleep, Marchant finished third, clocking an impressive time of 2:55:45 over 42.2 kilometres.

In an interview with the BBC, Marchant said running the marathon had always been part of her weekend plans. She decided to make the experience unique by collecting pieces of her hen costume from her bridesmaids at different mile markers along the course. Considering the late-night festivities, she didn’t anticipate performing as well as she did.

On her Strava activity post, Marchant wrote, “Third place on a hangover, and it felt just as hard as running a PB—an incredible weekend.”

Marchant told the BBC she wanted to do something iconic for her hen weekend. “We got in at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, and I didn’t feel too great, but I kept telling myself, the sun is out, and I’m going to be fine.”

The hen weekend (known as a bachelorette party in North America) is typically celebrated as a getaway or night out for a bride-to-be and her closest friends. Marchant and her bridesmaids did a pub crawl featuring seven beer stops, followed by a night of singing and dancing.

“When I woke up the next morning for the marathon, I just thought, what on earth have I done?” Marchant said. “They did an amazing job with planning, though. It was so much fun.”

Marchant crossed the finish line holding an inflatable doll bearing a photo of her partner, Charlotte. She finished just two and a half minutes behind the women’s winner, Helen Reid, who recorded a time of 2:52:58.

Even when not hungover, Marchant is a serious distance runner. Earlier this year, she set her personal best of 2:36:52 at the 2025 Sevilla Marathon in Spain. Reflecting on the beer-fuelled performance at Brighton, she said: “I’m still in disbelief at how I managed to pull off a marathon on such little sleep. My advice to all future hens? Do something random—you won’t regret it.”