Plus points - Flat, well organised, plenty of support, good water stations.

Minus points - Too exposed to the elements, little shade when running in 28 degree heat, difficult to get back to city centre, not really the Edinburgh Marathon as very little of it is actually in the city.

This is a rarity - a marathon that neither publishes its results nor responds to e-mails. Yes, you can find out your time and overall place, but you cannot find out how many were in the race, your gender, your age grooup, so you may have been 42nd of 2000 or last place - there is no way to tell and they will not respond. Pick a different race if you want to see how you did!

Race was well organized and had 23k runners this year. Crowds were amazing...its like everyone in every town and village along the way came out. Temperature was 28C and spectators had hoses, gummies, drinks - you name it. Awesome! Course was flat and very scenic. Ran a big stretch along the water. Post race was busy and fun but the walk to the buses was awful! Be sure to be prepared... at least 2+ miles. Overall a terriffic time in a terriffic city.

The marathon starts in the City center and then leaves Edinburgh. Scenery is nice, but at times not many/no spectators. Biggest joy came after the race however. Paid £4 extra for a bus back to the City center. The bus stop however is about 25 mins walk away from the finishing line. The bus than does not even stop directly at the train station, so you have to add another 10 mins walk...

The Edinburgh marathon seems to have become the unofficial start of summer as on the 2 occassions I have have done it the weather has been hot. The course is flat but alittle soul destroying when you get out to Gosford House and have to use some farm track. i have to say that the race crew and crowds were brilliant handing out much needed water hosing you down if needed and keeping you going towards the end.

It would be nice if it could take in more of the city, but this is a small gripe. Thanks to the people of edinburgh and the little lad who got me with a supersoaker just when I needed it most.

I ran the race this year..
+ points you get your number ahead of time
+ fast start..
+ start is well organised..
+ course is flat
+ Edinburgh is a great city..
- course is likely to be windy. as it is right on the course..
- 13 to 20 very few supporters
- walking nearly 2 miles to the return buses to the city..
- waiting 10 mins for the bags..( i ran 309)
- not enough water stations.
- one section is off road.
- please please run us out 13.1 and then back to edinburgh. as its a great city.. but not the out of edinburgh marathon..

The Edinburgh Marathon course is rather unusual in that it is not a loop as with most marathons. Instead, you finish some 26.2 miles from where you started. You start on the eastern edge of the city and head out along the coastline down to the small town of Musselburgh. Everyone is then transported back to the city afterwards by bus.

Given the right conditions, Edinburgh offers the chance for a personal best (PB) time as there is a slight downhill slant to the course. However, conditions this year were tough with a very strong south west wind blowing into your face for much of the way. There were also some fairly heavy showers towards the later stages. Whilst a PB may have been ruled out, the run was still enjoyable given the pretty coastal scenery.

This event still feels fairly small in scale, especially compared to other marathons such as London and Paris. Some aspects of the organisation could do with serious improvement for next year. My bib race number never arrived in time via the post, meaning I had to collect a replacement bib at the registration expo. I hear this happened to many of the competitors. As people are travelling from all over Europe and even further afield, these bibs really should be sent out at least two weeks' prior to race day. The registration expo itself is tiny with just one main marquee comprising a few feature stands. Not many of the major marathons have information on display. It would be good if the expo was increased in the future with more official merchandise available to buy.

Three other concerns that I had on race day were as follows. Firstly, the timing chips that we were given. These were affixed to the back of your bib race number and you felt like they could easily get bumped off. The popular ChampionChip design for shoes is far better and safer. Secondly, the mile markers around the course were often hard to spot and I went for several miles without having a clue how far I had run. Thirdly, there was much confusion just past the finish-line area as thousands of runners all tried to filter through into the family reunion area. It would have been far better to have the finish inside Musselburgh Racecourse as it was last year.

Edinburgh Marathon has the makings of being a great event but the organisers do need to make these improvements. The recent growth in the event with the addition of other races such as a 10km and half marathon might have been too much too soon. For this reason, I would consider switching all events to the Saturday leaving the marathon (main event) to take pride of place on the Sunday.

A really cool city with so much to see however, the race seems to have a host of problems that remain problems for years. I didn't find any sports drinks until mile 12, water stations were far apart, for me anyway, and the finish was a mess. Top this off with a tacky medal and a shirt that said I did the half, and not the full, and you have a rounding can do better grade for this race. Pity, it could be something...really.

The course was flat, consequently, it didn't take in many of the city's spectacular sights, opting instead to finish in Musselburgh.

It's hard to articulate just how awful the finish was. It was crowded, with no spectators or chance to stop for a good kilometer or so. Getting to the area with stalls, food etc. required a difficult walk.

Getting back to Edinburgh was exceptionally difficult. A 2k walk to the buses at the end of the marathon... long, long, long lines to get a bus. We were all finished the race at 1pm, but didn't make it back to Queen Street Station until 6pm.

This was my third marathon (Belfast and Honolulu), and while I would recommend the other two, I would not recommend that anyone run this marathon.

This was a very well organized marathon...up to the finish area which was a crowded and unmarshalled bottleneck. Transport away from the finish in Musselburgh and back into Edinburgh was difficult. I had to walk about 3 miles to the train station.
The course was excellent; flat and varied; city, seafront, countryside etc. Really flat course and clearly the organizers learned from last year as they had absolutely loads of drinks available for everyone.
The support on the course was minimal to say the least but I'm one of those weird runners who prefer that!
Overall I'd certainly recommend this race....oh aye, the showers were stone cold! Invigorating but not what I was hoping for!!!