Meadows Marathon set to expand for 2012

Serious athletes and wannabe runners alike will be making their way to the Meadows Marathon this year. Promised to be their biggest and best yet, 2012 sees a new race added to the circuit and expectations of raising record-breaking donations for charity. The event, although called the Meadows Marathon, has not featured a full marathon until this year, which will make it more competitive - and more of a challenge - than ever before. The full marathon will only be open to serious runners who can complete the race in four hours or less, but a half marathon and a 5.6k fun run are open to all.

Taking place on the first Sunday of March in the Meadows (Bruntsfield), the event aims to raise as much money as possible for charity. Runners are able to pick their own charity, but the event website has suggestions for those unsure. Press Officer George Ward told The Journal that this year’s event could be double the size of last year’s: “Last year we had about 900 runners raising £40,000 and this year we’re aiming to double it. If everyone who ran last year brings a friend, then we could get more people in… we’re hoping to make this one the biggest yet.”

Ward says that those running for the first time should turn to the website: “There’s training tips on our website provided by Pure Gym. They are updated quite regularly and tweeted and on Facebook; we’re really using social networks this year just to get as many people interested as possible.” The website also holds a blog, where runners write about their training plans and share advice on how to make the marathon.

The event is sure to get many people excited for the London Olympics, but Ward says it’s shaping up to be much more than a race: “It’s a fantastic day, hopefully the weather will hold out. There’ll be entertainers there and musicians... We had Kenyan drummers last year. They gave a good ambience round the track, gave a carnival feel to the event; people seem to appreciate them.” There will be a fancy-dress element to the day as well. In 2003 a man dressed in a 130lb deep sea diving suit set a new world record for the slowest ever marathon. He finished the Edinburgh Marathon in six days, four hours, 30 minutes and 56 seconds: a time most people will be hoping to beat.