Loch Ness Marathon

Last updated

Loch Ness Marathon
DateLate September / Early October
Location Inverness, Scotland
Event typeRoad
Distance Marathon, 10K, 5K
Primary sponsor Baxters
Established2002
Course recordsMen's: 2:20:13 (2009)
Flag of Kenya.svg Simon Tanui
Women's: 2:42:04 (2019)
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Katie White
Official site Loch Ness Marathon
Participants3,504 finishers (2023)
2,637 finishers (2021)
3,584 (2019)

The Loch Ness Marathon (Gaelic: Marathon Loch Nis) is an annual marathon race in Scotland, held along the famous loch, Loch Ness, ending in Inverness. The event is part of the Festival of Running, held annually at the beginning of October. This also includes a 10K race and a 5K fun run, and attracts over 8,000 participants across all of the events. [1] The first prize in the marathon is approx 1,400 GBP.

Contents

The marathon starts near Whitebridge, and follows the southern side of Loch Ness, passing through the villages of Foyers, Inverfarigaig and Dores. The route goes into Inverness, crossing the River Ness by the Ness Bridge in the city centre, and finishes at Bught Park.

The marathon supports several charities, including Highland Hospice, Leonard Cheshire, Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, and the Scottish Community Foundation. The lead partner charity since 2013 has been Macmillan Cancer Support, who have been involved in the event since 2009.

Kenyan Zakary Kihara was a convincing winner of the 2007 Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in a time of 2 hours 23 minutes. The women's race was won by Banuelia Katesigwa from Tanzania in a time of 2:55. The 2007 event saw 5600 people take part in the three main events - marathon, 10 km, and the 5 km with fifty different nationalities were represented.

In 2005 Simon Pride from Fochabers won in 2:30:15 whilst Julia Myatt won the women's event in 2.51.56. 18 nationalities were represented in the 2005 event.

Winners of the 2010 event were Tomas Abyu of Salford Harriers in a time of 2:20:50 and Dinknesh Mekash Tefera from Ethiopia in 02:46:37, a new course record for the women's race.

Past winners

Key:  Course record

EditionYearMen's winnerTime (h:m:s)Women's winnerTime (h:m:s)
1st2002Flag of Kenya.svg  Eric Kiplagat  (KEN)2:33:36Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Addy Gerrard  (GBR)2:57:06
2nd2003Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Tomas Abyu  (ETH)2:20:59Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Trudi Thomson  (GBR)2:50:42
3rd2004Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Simon Pride  (GBR)2:27:58Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Jan Roxburgh  (GBR)2:59:57
4th2005Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Simon Pride  (GBR)2:30:15Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Julia Myatt  (GBR)2:51:52
5th2006Flag of Kenya.svg  Zachary Njoroge  (KEN)2:22:17Flag of Kenya.svg  Helen Cherono  (KEN)2:46:54
6th2007Flag of Kenya.svg  Zachary Njoroge  (KEN)2:23:17Flag of Tanzania.svg  Banuela Katesigwa  (TAN)2:55:04
7th2008Flag of Kenya.svg  Ezekiel Cherop  (KEN)2:28:03Flag of Tanzania.svg  Banuela Katesigwa  (TAN)2:51:23
8th2009Flag of Kenya.svg  Simon Tanui  (KEN)2:20:13Flag of Kenya.svg  Joyce Kirui  (KEN)2:48:25
9th2010Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Tomas Abyu  (ETH)2:20:50Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Dinkinesh Mekash  (ETH)2:46:39
10th2011Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Tomas Abyu  (ETH)2:20:50Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Lisa Finlay  (GBR)2:59:14
11th2012Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Ross Houston  (GBR)2:20:24Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Avril Mason  (GBR)2:54:54
12th2013Flag of Kenya.svg  Elly Tarus  (KEN)2:27:21Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Megan Crawford  (GBR)2:46:37
13th2014 [2] Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Tomas Abyu  (ETH)2:22:41Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Jennifer Emsley  (GBR)2:46:10
14th2015Flag of Kenya.svg  Elly Tarus  (KEN)2:25:19Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Megan Crawford  (GBR)2:44:50
15th2016Flag of Jordan.svg  Mohammed Abu-Rezeq  (JOR)2:20:52Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Jennifer Wetton  (GBR)2:47:03
16th2017Flag of Jordan.svg  Mohammed Abu-Rezeq  (JOR)2:22:02Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Lesley Pirie  (GBR)2:48:10
17th2018Flag of Jordan.svg  Mohammed Abu-Rezeq  (JOR)2:22:56Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Sheena Logan  (GBR)2:51:11
18th2019Flag of Kenya.svg  Isaiah Kosgei  (KEN)2:29:31Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Katie White  (GBR)2:42:04
19th2021Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Stuart Livingstone  (GBR)2:32:21Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Megan Crawford  (GBR)2:48:15
20th2022Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Dougie Selman  (GBR)2:23:52Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Jemima Farley  (GBR)2:42:36
21st2023Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Moray Pryde  (GBR)2:22:04Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Melissa Gibson  (GBR)2:43:45

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References

  1. "allmediascotland". www.allmediascotland.com. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  2. 2014-09-29. New women's course record for Loch Ness marathon. BBC News. Retrieved on 2014-10-06.
List of winners