Press Release - Edinburgh Marathon - 5/1/08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                    Biggest Edinburgh Marathon Ever

Entries for the 2008 Albert Bartlett Edinburgh Marathon close at midnight 
on Friday 2nd May and with more than 12,500 runners already signed up 
(9,500 in the full marathon and 3,000 in the Team Relay) it will be the 
biggest ever Edinburgh Marathon.  The majority of the growth has come 
from outside Scotland with over 5500 Full Marathon entrants coming from 
over 40 countries from around the world.  Many of these runners come with 
friends and family and stay in the city for several days.

The economic impact of the 2008 Albert Bartlett Edinburgh Marathon will 
therefore be significantly larger than the £2 Million that last year's 
Edinburgh Marathon produced.  The event organisers are also hoping that 
this year's event will see over £3 Million raised for charity, which 
would take the total amount of money raised for charity through the 
Edinburgh Marathon since it started in 2003 to over £10 Million.

'Runners World' magazine readers voted the 2007 Edinburgh Marathon as 
being the best running event in Scotland.   The event organisers 
attribute the success of last year's Edinburgh Marathon as being the main 
reasons why entries have doubled this year.  

The tram work on Princes Street has resulted in the start moving from 
Princes Street to the Burns Monument on Regent Road (see map).  The new 
start will provide a spectacular backdrop for the runners as the set off 
on their 26.2 mile journey.   The fastest runners will complete the race 
in little over 2 hours with the slower runners taking over 6 hours.  
Nearly 250,000 miles will be paced out by runners in this year's 
marathon, which if ran end to end would equate to 10 times around the 
earth.

There might not be enough time to get into shape to run the full marathon 
this year but there are still places in the extremely popular Chevrolet 
Hairy Haggis Team Relay.  The Team Relay splits the full marathon course 
into four legs - two 8 mile legs and two 5 mile legs. Runners can still 
enter the Team Relay online at www.edinburgh-marathon.co.uk before 
midnight on Friday 2nd May.

The biggest ever Edinburgh Marathon means more Volunteers than ever 
before are required.  The event organisers provide a lunch voucher, a 
volunteer t-shirt, a goody bag and a great experience.  The organisers 
also give a donation of £10 - £15 to the charity of the volunteers 
choice, which makes it a great way for small charitable organisations to 
raise a few pounds. If you wish to volunteer please call the volunteer 
co-ordinator on 01620 890444.

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