Edinburgh Marathon

History

On 5 September 1982, the Edinburgh Festival Marathon was the first mass marathon event to be held in the city. Starting in Holyrood Park and running through the Grassmarket and down Lothian Road, along Princes Street and down into Leith, along to Cramond and along the coast back through Silverknowes to Leith, up Easter Road and finishing in Meadowbank Stadium. The following year the race was called the Scotway Marathon and got off to an eventful start when a foolish fun-runner brought down the previous year's winner, breaking bones in the latter's hand. An Edinburgh Waverley Market Marathon was held on Sept 2nd 1984 with winner Lindsay Robertson in a then PB of 2:15:55. The Edinburgh Waverley Market Marathon again took place on Sept 1st 1985. Winner was M Carroll in 2:18:41. In 1986 it was called the Commonwealth Games People's Marathon and held in June, a month ahead of the Commonwealth Games. In 1999 the PUMA Edinburgh Marathon was held, leaving from Dunfermline and finishing in Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Marathon Festival was founded by Geoff Sims and the first year's event on 15 June 2003, attracted just 3,000 participants. The course started at Meadowbank Stadium, taking in Princes Street, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. Frank McGowan from Glasgow won the men's race in 2.35 with the slowest man Lloyd Stott taking more than six days to complete the race wearing a deep sea diving suit weighing more than 100 pounds.

In 2007 organisers designed a new route, that headed into East Lothian through, Musselburgh, Prestonpans, Cockenzie, Port Seton to Gosford House, then back up to the finishing line at the playing fields at Pinkie St Peter's Primary School, Musselburgh. With an elevation drop of 40 metres, the average finish time was almost 12 minutes faster than previous year's Edinburgh earned its title of UK's fastest marathon. It was the first year that the event made a profit. Road closures for the new route affected around 130 streets.

In 2010, the half marathon was introduced for the first time with entry levels jumping to more than 24,000.

2011 was the first time the Edinburgh Marathon Festival was hosted over two days. As well as the full marathon, the festival also included a 5K, 10K, two junior races and a half marathon and a team relay race, affectionately named the "Hairy Haggis."

The 2020 edition of the race was postponed to 30 May 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, then again to 29 May 2022.

Men's winners

Half Marathon

Women's winners

Half Marathon

Finisher statistics

Total of runners finishing the original marathon distance

Criticism

For the 2014 race, the organisers sent competitors details of their individual times but initially did not publish the full results, only giving times for the top three in each category. Within a few days, EMF events issued an apology via their website and published the full results.

Notes

References

References

1. (6 September 1982). "Marathon protest by pro runners". [[The Glasgow Herald]].
2. Douglas, Derek. (31 January 1986). "Marathon gets a new start". [[The Glasgow Herald]].
3. (27 September 1999). "Race future in balance already". The Herald.
4. (13 June 2003). "The race that just seems to run and run". [[The Scotsman]].
5. (29 May 2009). "Edinburgh Marathon boss tells of his journey to the big day". The Scotsman.
6. (23 May 2008). "Edinburgh Marathon build-up - and road closures guide". The Scotsman.
7. "Twitter".
8. (20 June 2020). "Home | Edinburgh Marathon Festival - 29/30th May 2021".
9. Cusick, James. (5 September 1983). "Police gear up for Glasgow marathon".
10. Minshull, Phil (2013-05-26). [http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/lema-and-kimaiyo-take-the-honours-at-the-edin Lema and Kimaiyo take the honours at the Edinburgh Marathon]. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-31.
11. Woods, Mark. (30 May 2016). "Kenyan dominance of Edinburgh marathon continues". [[The Herald (Glasgow).
12. "Scottish Half Marathon, Edinburgh, 23 May 2010".
13. (27 May 2014). "Edinburgh Marathon slammed for withholding results". The Scotsman.
14. (3 June 2014). "Edinburgh Marathon bosses run out of excuses". The Scotsman.