Edinburgh Marathon Festival
The Edinburgh Marathon Festival takes runners from Edinburgh’s city centre to Musselburgh on the East Lothian coast, typically in May. Its primary event is a 42.195 km road marathon, sanctioned by Scottish Athletics. The festival now includes half marathon, 10K, and 5K races. This festival has been held annually since 2003, following earlier Edinburgh marathons in the early 1980s, mid-1980s, and late 1990s. The current course departs central Edinburgh eastward, a path that superseded earlier routes through Holyrood Park, the Grassmarket, Princes Street, Leith, Cramond, Silverknowes, and Meadowbank Stadium. The festival was established by Geoff Sims. Its inaugural event attracted 3,000 participants, with entries later exceeding 24,000 after the half marathon was added. The East Lothian route descends approximately 40 metres, contributing to an average finish time reduction of nearly 12 minutes post-introduction and earning the race the designation of UK’s fastest marathon. Course records are held by Joel Kiptoo at 2:13:33 for men and Zinaida Semenova at 2:33:36 for women.
