This was my second time running Edinburgh (last time was in '04). I enjoyed the first 10 miles through the city - those miles ticked away quickly, but from mile 10 on, the run was a boring, long, straight run along the seafront. I did not like the two turn-arounds at 12 and 22, where you came back on yourself. The uphill finish for the last 3 miles was very tough. I like the new start on Prince's St. I will run it again but hope the organizers will have another look at the course.

This was my first marathon, so I was pleased it was well organized. Crowd was fantastic, supporting runners all the way around, especially as heat made it tough (though it did cloud over later). Not sure about finishing uphill though - that hurt!!!

Incredibly beautiful, historic Edinburgh makes this marathon venue worth the trip.

I've completed over 20 marathons and would rank this as the one of the best courses. I've run everything from Colorado and Disney, but nothing compares to the ancient majesty of palaces, cathedrals, monuments and water front views of the Firth of Forth.

Except for a flat 4-5 miles along the ocean front, the course is an undulating mix of easy hills and dales. Save some muscle for the last 3 miles when the route turns from the beach area towards the finish in the old city. Not a course for a 'personal best', but one to enjoy the route.

Community support was good. Water stations and mileage markers were a bit thin.

Overall, I would recommend Edinburgh.

I ran my first marathon here in Edinburgh. A fairly tough course was compounded by very high temperatures and blistering heat. Could not beleive it in June in Scotland! Well organized, helpful marshals and officials, but the crowds were even better - truly fantastic (always put your name on your running vest!)Will do it again next year. Please pray for an overcast day!

This wasn't a destination marathon which most runners would want to do once in a lifetime, but it was a fun, reasonably well organized event. There was a bit of rain, but what does one expect in Scotland? The organizers had promised a less challenging start than in prior years, and the warm-up run the day before illustrated what they had eliminated. I chose this marathon because I wanted a vacation in Scotland. It did not disappoint. It was a good start to a great vacation.

It was my 3rd marathon and my 1st time in Edinburgh.

I would like to say that Edinburgh is a wonderful city with loads to see & do and even if you're not going to run in it, I would recommend bringing your family.

This year was the 1st time they had a fun run the day before to stretch the legs (5k) and have breakfast afterwards (fruit & ham sandwiches), talk to the professionals and pick up some lucozade energy drinks.

The expo opens around an hour after the breakfast run so you can pick up your race chip & number. The expo was good and you could have picked up a good bargain; there were a lot of organizers there from other races in Scotland, England, Germany, France & Holland.

The course was fairly flat up until around 22 miles and then it gets pretty tough with an uphill climb to the finish line.

The medal you get for finishing is good and you receive a goody bag after with t-shirts, pasta, fruit and more energy drinks.

The race last year had a large field of (I think) 8,000, so it wasn't too crowded; and one excellent idea was to have the relay start an hour after.

Route was first-class, with a bit of everything. The goody bag was excellent, but not enough porta-potties for the number of runners. Not impressed with the finish area; took too long getting through (if it had been heavy rain, there would have been a lot of cold, wet runners). The expo was very disappointing; thought it would have been a lot bigger. But all in all, it was a good day and I enjoyed it enough to enter again next year

My first marathon. Thought the atmosphere amongst the runners was really good, even through the rain, everyone was in high spirits. There was a definite lack of toilets, and I would recommend taking a picnic, as the lone burger van was all that was available.

This was a vacation/marathon trip for me and my husband, and it was a fantastic way to see Edinburgh. Be prepared for any and all types of weather during the race and dress accordingly. Of course, no one comes to Scotland for the weather anyway. On the organizational side, we thought the volunteers did a good job along the course. As other people have indicated, more toilets would have been helpful. And carry your own food. The Lucozade and handy little sport-bottles of water at the aid stations were great, but something more substantial would have been welcome. We enjoyed the bagpipes at the start and finish, but more music along the course would have been nice. Kudos to the sponsors for the well-stocked goodie bags at the end. This was our second marathon (the first was the Maui Marathon and we haven't done any of the real powerhouse events yet), but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would recommend this race to others. We can't help but think that Arthur's Seat would have been an interesting challenge....

As a Scottish patriot living in Germany, I have run a few of the big marathons here including Berlin (twice), which were experiences I would recommend to anyone. The organizers would definitely profit if they could touch a bit of this category. Early days yet.

On the whole I enjoyed the race, although a bit more flair along the course was missing (i.e. supporters/bands/music). It was also the first time that I had run a marathon with relay runners trying to get past us where the space between the runners was not sufficient. The water stations were the best I have ever exprienced. A really big compliment to the the organizers. Last but not least, I really missed a wee shower after having run 26 miles; but not to worry I will probably be in our great capital city of Edinburgh for your next marathon in 2006.