Saying AYE to UK’s second biggest marathon
Saying AYE to UK’s second biggest marathon
Unique group of runners will tackle Edinburgh Marathon for 20th time
On Sunday, thousands upon thousands of runners will pound 26.2 miles along the streets of Edinburgh and into East Lothian as they take on the 20th incarnation of the Edinburgh Marathon.
Last night, a small and unique group of long-distance runners - just 14 in number - sat down for a meal, sharing a set of experiences that only they can draw upon, ahead of a starter’s gun today which will set legs and heart pumping in unison.
The 16,000 marathon runners this weekend will have been riddled with fears of injury; over-analysing little muscle niggles, taking stairs one at a time to avoid rolling an ankle; every measure possible to make sure knees, ankles, calves and hamstrings don’t play up and waste months of training ahead of the start. Our unique 14 will have been particularly careful: the AYE Runners (All Years Edinburgh) is a Club for those who have, so far, completed every single EMF marathon since 2003.
The club began with a membership of roughly fifty, when the founder, who had himself run the first seven marathons, decided to check race records and find out if anyone else was in the same boat. Nearly 15 years later, the remaining AYE runners gather from across the world for a meal the Friday before the marathon, and meet before the race for a team photo. The group of AYE runners has, understandably, greatly reduced; but those who have lost their streak due to illness, mid-race injury or family bereavement are still very much part of the Club community. “They might not be AYE runners but they’re AYE family,” says Chris Burns, the current club chair.
A short history of long races in Edinburgh:
The Edinburgh Marathon Festival (EMF) has been going every year (except some obvious hiccups in 2020 and 2021) since 2003. Even before then, Edinburgh had a history of distance running. The first marathon in Edinburgh was the 1970 Commonwealth Games men’s marathon, and in 1986 Edinburgh hosted the first women’s marathon event in the history of the Commonwealth Games. (It might surprise you to know that, despite the first woman to officially complete a marathon was in 1926, women were subsequently banned from running long distances until the 1970s, due to a variety of health and fertility-related fears). Non-professional marathons (for men and women, thankfully) began in 1982 with the Edinburgh Festival Marathon, followed by sporadic 26.2 mile races under different names; but none gained enough momentum to become an annual event until 2003.
According to Burns, the scale of EMF has grown massively since he first ran it in 2003. Burns mentions the common criticism of the race, that the route itself does not really go through Edinburgh, but spits runners out of the city centre onto the coast past Musselburgh as quickly as possible. “I’m not too stressed about that myself but I must admit I think it was a shame it couldn’t be done more within Edinburgh,” he says. Previous Edinburgh marathon routes took in Princes Street, Grassmarket, Cramond and the Royal Yacht Britannia, but admittedly had far fewer participants to manage. The current route also has its benefits: the route from Potterow, down Portobello and along the coast, actually features more downhill than uphill, tempting many runners to come to Edinburgh hoping for a personal best time. And as the fourth most searched-for marathon among British runners, it’s clearly in high demand despite its less-than iconic route.
Edinburgh and the UK’s running craze:
Of course, it’s not just the Edinburgh marathon that’s gained momentum over recent years. Across the country, running and jogging has exploded. According to the SportShoes Running Report, as of 2024, 22% of Brits say they run one to three times a week. In 2020, the Running Report ranked Edinburgh the biggest running city in the UK, based on the number of runs tracked online. While in 2024 the residents of other other cities seem to have overtaken us Edinburghers, it is still decidedly difficult to spend ten minutes in central Edinburgh without seeing somebody pacing it past in a pair of Nikes.
“Pre-covid when we used to go to the prom to set up for parkrun, we would maybe see about three of the same people out walking their dogs,” says Susan Morrison, “now there’s an awful lot more. There’s people walking, there’s people running, there’s people on the beach… that’s changed for me, there’s definitely more people around.” Susan Morrison is the Event Coordinator for Edinburgh parkrun, and has been involved in setting up other local parkruns over the years.
“The amount of running going on is amazing,” says Burns, “it seems ever more inclusive, all shapes and sizes… everybody seems, quite rightly, to feel they can have a go.” Burns says this is far better than when he got back into running training in 2002, going out only under the cover of darkness to avoid being seen struggling through his first few runs. Burns praises the EMF organisers for embracing this inclusivity too, with the weekend of events offering distances from one kilometre all the way up to the full marathon.
Why run in Edinburgh?
While much of the running craze has been credited to Covid-19 lockdowns, we also have to give some credit to parkrun. Edinburgh hosted Scotland’s second ever parkrun, which is still going strong down at Cramond. The city now has adult parkruns at Portobello, Holyrood and the Oriam Centre at Heriot Watt, as well as junior parkruns in Inverleith Park and the Meadows. Taken together, Edinburgh has seen 1820 friendly 5K (or 2K for the kids) events since 2009. The Holyrood parkrun, in less than two years, has already seen an average of over 400 runners per event.
Susan believes parkrun’s emphasis on taking part more than performance has made it popular with people of all levels; “although there’s a massive spread in the timings, it’s not intended that you applaud anybody more or less because of their time,” she says. Recently parkrun has introduced the role of Park Walker; a volunteer who walks at their own pace to encourage other walking participants. Parkruns also have a volunteer “tailwalker”, making sure that no matter their pace, nobody is getting dropped off the end of the parkrun. This doesn’t put off the fastest runners though; especially down at Cramond where the route is very flat, a lot of runners will come for that hallowed sub-20 minute time.
The sociability of parkrun also encourages people, both participants and volunteers, to keep coming back; and this social aspect of running is offered by the plethora of clubs, of all levels, around the city. Law believes that this spread in clubs, from the “let’s sprint up and down Arthurs Seat until our lungs explode” to the “let’s all jog to the pub together” types, has contributed to making running more popular in Edinburgh. Burns, who is a self-declared average-level runner, topping out at a marathon time of 4:10, says that joining a running club which fitted his approach to running, was one of the best choices he ever made.
Edinburgh’s greenspaces also offer great running locations; a recent study ranked Edinburgh best for runners based on the high density of parks and low air pollution. Our city has something to offer every kind of runner, too. Look at the city’s four parkruns for example; Cramond is flat and windy, Holyrood is hilly, Portobello is laps of a park, while Oriam is an out and back route on trails. Beyond parkrun, there are paths for running everywhere in Edinburgh; from the coastline all the way from Cramond round to Musselburgh, or the North Edinburgh Cycle paths, the water of Leith or any one of the seven hills; you could run ten different marathon routes before you even had to get in a car to try out the paths in the Pentlands.
Starting to feel the fomo - that’s fear of missing out for the hard of text talk - from EMF? Don’t worry, you don’t have to wait until May 2025! According to RunnersNeed, Edinburgh has more regular running events than any other city in Scotland. Fancy a 5K? There’s the Supernova Run across the old Forth Road Bridge. If you want a gender-specific run, the Men’s and Women’s 10K both tour the Old Town in September. Movember now includes a variety of running events to raise awareness and money for men's mental health. The Kilomathon 13.1K is a half marathon along North Edinburgh’s serene cycle paths, or for the more ambitious, there’s the Seven Hills Race. For those with a mind of steel there is, believe it or not, a marathon in laps around the Meadows!
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