Running News Daily

2021 Edinburgh Marathon, organizers remain optimistic event can go ahead in May

Edinburgh Marathon Festival organizers remain optimistic the events can go ahead as planned in May despite the coronavirus crisis.

Those who have signed up to participate were issued an update this week which said that all being well the festival will take place as planned on May 29 and 30.

Scheduled for the weekend is the full 26.2-mile marathon, the EMF half marathon, relay race, 10k, 5k, junior 5k, junior 2k, junior 1.5k and kids' kilometre.

Entrants were told that a number of measures have already been implemented to allow the event to take place should it be permitted.

As well as an increase in hygiene stations, organisers say there will be a 50 per cent reduction in participant activity to allow for social distancing, and personalised information packs giving detailed guidance which must be followed by those taking part.

Should Covid-19 scupper the festival then virtual events will take place across the weekend instead and participants will be given a voucher for a percentage of their entry fee which can be used towards other events up until 31 December. They'll also be given the option of deferring to the 22 event if they don not wish to take part virtually.

Regular updates will be given to runners in the coming weeks, and a final decision will be made by the first week of March.

Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday that there were reasons to be cautiously optimistic in the ongoing battle against Covid-19.

She said: "Our figures suggest that the lockdown is starting to work. This is the first day in a long time that test positivity has been as low as 6.9 per cent. Under 7 per cent.

"So we are starting to see some cautious grounds for optimism that what we are doing right now is working. But we can’t be complacent about that against a virus that has learned to transmit more quickly."

However the First Minister did warn we perhaps shouldn't expect to see any large-scale events taking place across the country this summer.