The Meadows Marathon is coming up on 3 March. Can you tell us a little bit more about the event?
Meadows Marathon now incorporates a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Full Marathon and – for the first time – a Relay, all taking place at The Meadows on Sunday 3 March. We have over 1000 participants this year and can’t wait to see them all take to the course.
How long has it been going for?
The event was founded in 2007 and has been run annually by Edinburgh RAG, based at the University of Edinburgh. This year’s Meadows Marathon has been organised in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier Events Society.
You mention it’s run by Edinburgh RAG, the people who also run the Races to Paris and Prague. What exactly is the RAG?
Edinburgh RAG (Raising and Giving), also known as the Edinburgh Student Charities Appeal (ESCA), is a student-led charity that works to raise money for a number of charities through events like Meadows Marathon, the Edinburgh Charity Ball, RAG Week and loads more. It is probably most well-known for its popular charity hitch hikes like Race2Paris and Race2Prague.
And what is your role within it?
I’m the Coordinator of Meadows Marathon this year. We have a fantastic team made up largely of International Festival & Event Management students from Edinburgh Napier University as well as some of RAG’s members. We also have support from a wider Executive Committee of around 30 others from across RAG and the charity’s two staff members. RAG has a number of sub-committees for its different events and always has a role for anyone who’s keen to get involved.
How did you get involved in this project?
I was approached by RAG’s President last year, around the time that I founded the Events Society at Napier, as they were looking for Event Management students to get on board with the Meadows Marathon, as well as getting involvement from students outside of UoE. I helped to recruit some Napier Students and we quickly managed to fill all roles but one. Once the rest of the committee was recruited, I found myself in the Coordinator role.
Will you be running this year?
No doubt I’ll be running around on the day but not in the race. I am taking part in Race2Prague next week though which everyone, probably rightly, thinks I’m mad for doing two weeks before Meadows Marathon.
How stressed are you currently as we approach the event?
Good question – this changes by the minute. We’ve had some obstacles to overcome and have had some headaches about various things over the past five months. But we have a brilliant team who are always on the ball, so with three weeks to go I’m just excited to see it happen.
How is it for spectators?
Absolutely! It’ll be a great sight to have over 1000 runners taking to the Meadows over the various races throughout the day. We have a number of vendors to provide food and drinks to anyone who comes along to watch. The best way to see the action though is to volunteer! We’re always looking for more enthusiastic people to get involved. Anyone can register at meadowsmarathon.org.uk/volunteer – even if it’s just for the free food and t-shirt.
Can people still sign up?
We’re delighted to have sold out of 10k and Half Marathon spaces, even after adding an extra 50 spaces to each, but still have a limited number of 5k, Full Marathon and Relay spaces left for people to join in. Registration closes on Thursday (14 February) so be quick to sign up online at meadowsmarathon.g.uk/registration.
Image: GoToVan via Flickr