Press Release - Edinburgh Marathon - 3/6/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                         Contact: Heather Middleton, KDMedia 
                                                  00 44 131 624 9840
                                                  

                  EDINBURGH MARATHON EXPANDS RACE PROGRAMME 
                    TO ATTRACT EVEN MORE CHARITY RUNNERS

Organisers of the fourth Edinburgh Marathon have announced today a new race 
category to its 11th June programme which will help achieve this year’s 
charity fundraising target of £3 million. 

New for 2006 is a 2 leg relay event for teams of two. ‘The Big Half’, will 
see each team member running 13.1 miles of the full marathon course.  The 
Big Half relay will enable a much wider group of athletes to be targeted – 
those who are fit but not wanting to do the demanding full 26.2 mile course.
Over 100 charities are expected to benefit from this new race category, 
which is open to charity runners only for this introduction year.  

Geoff Sims, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Marathon said: “As well as creating a 
serious international sporting event, we have always tried to ensure that 
the Edinburgh Marathon is an inclusive event with as many runners as 
possible of all ages and abilities able to take part in some capacity. With 
a marathon course that is regarded as one of the world’s most scenic it is 
great that such a variety of runners will be able to share in the excitement 
and experience the thrill of running in Scotland’s capital on the same day. 
We expect around 15,500 runners in total to take part on June 11th.

"What's more, runners will for the first time enjoy starting the race on 
Princes Street." 

The Edinburgh Marathon Team Relay known as the ‘Hairy Haggis Team Relay’ 
together with The Big Half looks to set to become the largest Marathon Team 
Relay event in the world.  In 2005, 5000 runners competed in teams of five 
over the marathon distance which is split into legs of varying length.  Team 
entries are already up by 15% this year with over 384 teams registered to 
date. The age limit has also been lowered allowing runners as young as 15 to 
run legs which are less than 6 miles.   

Geoff Sims continued: "The Team Relay is ideal for fun or more occasional 
runners, great for groups of friends or work colleagues who have got 
together for the day. To become the world’s largest Marathon Team Relay we 
need 7500 people taking part in the Team Relay and introducing The Big Half 
should put us ahead of the current record holders the Beach to Bay Relay 
Marathon in Texas.  

One of last year's highlights was the 'Sikhs in the City' team whose 
combined age was nearly 400 and featured their 94 year old captain running 
the last leg.  It's a great example to us all, and with the event still more 
than three months ago, there is plenty of time to train."

Entrants to the Edinburgh Marathon itself are also up on last year. The 
route has again been tweaked to create a faster course which is expected to 
prove popular with the elite field.  

Organisers have also secured a TV package with Channel 5 to air a two-hour 
extended highlights programme on the afternoon of the race for the first 
time. 

Over 100,000 spectators are expected to line the course to support the 
runners

For more information visit www.edinburgh-marathon.com.


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