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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