History
The Edinburgh Marathon Festival was founded by Geoff Sims and the first year’s event on June 15, 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 in to East Lothian through Longniddry and Port Seton, finishing in Musselburgh race course. With an elevation drop of 40 metres, the average finish time was almost 12 minutes faster than previous year's and Edinburgh earned its title of UK’s fastest marathon.
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.”
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