Edinburgh Marathon officially cancelled amid coronavirus uncertainty

The race had been previously postponed from May until October.

The Edinburgh Marathon will not go ahead as planned this year, according to organisers.

The race, which has been held in May annually since 2003, was initially postponed until October, as the coronavirus crisis unfolded in Scotland.

Organisers said they were “devastated” to cancel the event, which attracts more than 36,000 runners to Edinburgh, and is worth around £40 million to its economy each year.

They blamed uncertainty over the safety of holding large-scale events in future months.

“As you know, it is outside of our control to say when events will be permitted to go ahead,” a message on the Edinburgh Marathon’s official website said, “and sadly there is insufficient information currently available to allow us to estimate when this will be.

“The nature of the event demands a considerable amount of preparation, not only from our team and our delivery partners, but from the participants.

“Their preparation for an event will involve training, sometimes meaning they are dedicating many hours away from their friends and family, which for many is understandably unpalatable or impossible with the demands of home working, childcare and schooling at this time.

The Edinburgh Marathon will not go ahead as planned this year, according to organisers.

“For others it requires the booking of accommodation or travel and we feel that it is unfair to ask for your and their continuing preparation if we cannot make a firm assurance that we will definitely be able to go ahead with the event on the planned date.”

The next Edinburgh Marathon is now scheduled to take place in 2021, but this year’s runners have been encouraged to support their chosen charities regardless.

Organisers said they will make “2020 Edinburgh Marathon Festival Virtual Challenges” available to participants, who can complete them to raise cash for charity instead.

They also said there were a “range” of options open to disappointed runners who had clinched spaces in the planned 2020 race, asking entrants to log into their My Details account to choose a preferred option.

A Message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Joy Yates

Editorial Director