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The Loch Ness Marathon Runner's Guide
1.5k Plays5 days ago
In this episode, we’re talking about the Loch Ness Marathon — a race that’s as beautiful as it is tough. Set in the Scottish Highlands, it winds past forests, hills, and of course, the famous loch itself.
Tom and Nick cover everything you need to know before taking part in the race, from travel options and where to stay, to what you can expect on the morning of the race.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction & Episode Focus
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, Tom here and welcome back to the Run Testers podcast. In this episode, we are going to be talking about the Loch Ness Marathon. So myself and Nick recently went up there to race with very different finish times. But in this episode, we're going be talking about all the things you need to know about Loch Ness Marathon.
00:00:20
Speaker
There's also a race test video up on the YouTube channel so you can find out more about how myself and Nick got on on the day. And there's a lot of social stuff that we've put on the Instagram account as well. At the end of the podcast, you'll also find an interview that we did with Malcolm Sutherland, who's the event director at Loch Ness Marathon. So you can find out a little bit more about race and what they aim to achieve as the race continues to grow in popularity. Right, let's dive in and do the podcast.
Live from Inverness
00:00:52
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Run Testers podcast where we are on location for the first time for a podcast. Live! Live! Well, not if you're listening to this, but we... We are live. Obviously, we're recording it live. We are in Inverness for the Loch Ness Marathon, so we're going to be doing a Loch Ness Marathon special um over the next two days where we're going to be talking to a few people. We're going to be... walking around the expo we're going to be talking about the race before and after and giving a few tips and bits of information if you're ever planning on doing this marathon so presumably if you're listening to this you're probably thinking about doing the marathon or you've already signed up we can talk about our hopes and dreams you can talk about your hopes and dreams haven't really got any sadly dreams they're done I just want to get to the pub after the race tomorrow. Yeah, same.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah. So we're going to head into the expo now and um we're going to, we've got a few talks to do there and then we're going to be recording throughout the day. So yeah, back in a bit.
Post-Marathon Insights
00:01:58
Speaker
Okay, so we have just done the Loch Ness Marathon. We don't normally do these marathon guides straight after we've done the race. very fresh. But we thought, you know, we're we're free. we're go to We're going to go through the the event now and yeah chat through the various elements of it that you probably need to know if you're planning on doing the event at some point in the future.
00:02:18
Speaker
So as always, we're going to go through a few of the key aspects of the event itself, so not just the race, and give some top tips and information on things that people will need to know if they're going to do it in the future.
00:02:32
Speaker
So the first thing we talk about when we do the marathon guides is what exactly is the Loch Ness Marathon? Nick? The Loch Ness Marathon is a cool marathon, I guess you'd fair to say. it's not it's not It's not like a big city marathon. It's a bit different. You're running on roads. It's a road marathon, so that's key to know. But you're running point to point from the tip of Loch Ness back into Inverness. So Inverness is the base for the whole race, and that's where you finish up. But you go you spend the whole time basically running alongside Loch Ness throughout the race, just the last, what three, four miles in Inverness, I'd say.
00:03:02
Speaker
uh it's a net downhill marathon so it's pretty fast but it's hilly uh so you are you do about 300 meters a thousand feet of climbing in the race but you get more than that back so the first half in particular is quite fast second half pretty savage as i as i learned today at times but it's really fun it's like it's not like the biggest marathon you have about 5 000 participants in the marathon about 10 000 across all the races in the weekend there's also a 10k very fast 10k and some kids races so you've got enough to create an atmosphere but not a huge amount because basically the area and the race probably couldn't hold the the 30 000 you see in other races so yeah it's ah road marathon set in the great outdoors Okay, so the bit that we kick take off first is how to get to Loch Ness
Travel & Race Logistics
00:03:44
Speaker
Marathon. So Loch Ness, out of all the marathons or many of the marathons across the UK, it's probably one of the harder ones to get to because it's the other side of lots of mountains in Scotland. So um the main way to get to ah to get to Inverness, where the the race ah takes where finishes, doesn't start in Inverness, but you most people stay in Inverness.
00:04:04
Speaker
The best way to get there is flying. So there's an airport, Inverness Airport, very small airport, and but there are flights that go through from various airports around the England and and the UK and the world. Yeah, I've actually done both. I've driven and flown to the race and ah drove up just from Edinburgh and that's a long drive because, you know, it's quite small roads up in Scotland. So you're at the mercy of his accidents, stuff like that. So yeah, flying in is is the easiest way to get in. You've got to see if you're local to Scotland, it's easier. But even driving from just like Edinburgh is quite long. So I wouldn't necessarily fly there and then drive.
00:04:36
Speaker
Yeah. And then when you when you get to the airport, it's not very far from the city of Inverness. So you generally get a taxi from the airport. And I assume there's probably buses as well, but it just depends when you get in.
00:04:48
Speaker
Yes. OK, so that's that's how you get to Inverness. What do people need to know about staying in Inverness? Key thing is to probably book early because I think pretty much every guest house and hotel in the city gets booked out for this marathon because it's not the biggest city in the world.
00:05:03
Speaker
you so you need to book early. yeah look yes a guest hack Classic guest houses, British guest houses is probably the place most people stay. That's where we're staying now. In the past, you can also stay along the lock and get picked up by the buses, which we'll talk about later on the way to start the marathon. Drummond Rocket is quite a famous quite a popular place to stay. I stayed in an Airbnb there. Obviously, you can Airbnb in Inverness as well. And Fort Augustus is another fairly popular spot. But if you go into Inverness, you can stay anywhere, I would say. It's a pretty small city. It's all very walkable. All the hotels and guest houses are pretty close to the centre. Everything, I'd say, is probably two-mile walk, I'd say.
00:05:35
Speaker
So you have your pick of locations within the city centre, but you might not have your pick of places if you're not fairly sharp. Very good. Didn't know you knew so much about Inverness. Okay, so that that pretty much covers the the general area and how to get here. Let's talk about the actual event itself. Now, Loch Ness Marathon is actually, as Nick mentioned earlier, is not just the marathon. It's actually a series of different races that take place across, um across well, I think they're all on the Sunday, actually. Yeah, same day. Yeah, all on the same day over the weekend. And there are kids races, but the and there's a 10k race, and there is the marathon race.
00:06:11
Speaker
And it all takes place from an expo, which is very close to the city centre. It's normally it's about a 5-10 minute walk from city centre. We call it Butte Park, but I think it's pronounced Buck-t-park maybe.
00:06:23
Speaker
somebody Somebody's going to comment on that. Yeah, yeah so it if you if you're used to running marathons, ah some of the bigger marathons around the world in the UK, it's a very small expo by comparison. So you've got the same sort of things there.
00:06:38
Speaker
It is a lot of marquees and tents on um on a down a park, on a field. um And there's loads of stuff going on there. They have talks, they have food trucks and things like that. They have Baxter's Soup, which is the sponsor of the event. So soup if you like soup, and but specifically Baxter's, then this is this the place to go. Don't come talking about other soups. No, no. um And there's lots there's lots of vendors as well. So I think we saw shocks there. It's like you saw between like Run For It and run for any all the vendors they work with. Yeah, yeah there's quite lot of different shoes options. Yeah. yeah So there's there's there's lots of things to do, but it's not a massive expo by any stretch of the imagination, which is probably...
00:07:20
Speaker
for most people who actually visit Inverness and decide to stay Inverness for the marathon, you just pop down for a bit and see. yeah We actually were doing talks there. And if we come again, we might do talks again. Might do. To the crowds of people picking up for their their bibs. So there's plenty to do at the expo, but it's by no means one of the biggest steps expos you're going to go to. And it's very convenient to get to from most product anywhere you're staying, if you are staying in Inverness.
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah, that would a big downside of staying outside the city. likestone i you You have to go and get your number. You don't get it posted to you. So yeah i had to come from Donald Rockett on the Saturday ah you know to get the number. So it's lovely to stay on the lock. It's really beautiful, but it does make a bit more logistical difference.
00:08:01
Speaker
difficulties Yes, and if you do stay in Inverness for the weekend, there's lots to do. Obviously, the Nessie trademark is very much, ah it's it's very live in the in Inverness, so there's lots of things you can do. go on boat trips and things on the lock, or you can go hiking if you wanted to. Go to the castle.
00:08:19
Speaker
The castle, the Erkart Castle. There's a lot to do. So it's probably a good place to go if you if you're looking for a full weekend away and you want to bring the family with you. Okay, so next thing is the race itself.
00:08:33
Speaker
So let's talk about... it's Out of all of the marathons that we've done, this is probably one of the most interesting courses in terms of elevation and route.
Marathon Course Details
00:08:43
Speaker
um And we' we've talked about this on the on the race video about how you're basically in...
00:08:49
Speaker
The great outdoors. You're running you're running through mountains and and lakes. One lake. Lock. Lock. lock I'd say that means the start is interesting because how you get there is... Should we talk about that first before we talk about route? Oh, yes, of course. Yeah, yeah. um Yeah, so much like but all point-to-points, you have to get to the first point, famously. And this one is... Well, it's in the middle of nowhere, basically. isn't it? It's near Fort Augustus but not actually in Fort Augustus so you're along the other end of Loch Ness obviously which is 23 miles long so so you have to get buses basically and everyone gets buses there's unless you organise your own cab all the runners go together you go at like 7.30 from Inverness to get there you can get picked up if you did stay in Dromlod Rockett or Fort Augustus for a shorter bus trip
00:09:36
Speaker
ah But basically it takes, it took us over an hour, didn't it, today, I think? Yeah. and It's quite a hilly route. You get that every bus in Inverness is there. So it's not just like luxury coach line. It's like all the stagecoaches and stuff like that are there. And i mean, it's a long trip. They told us several times at the Expo to make sure you go to toilet for you to have a pee. I did, but still i thought going to lose a kidney of how much I needed to pee by the end. That wasn't an enjoyable... you You weren't an enjoyable person sitting next to you. was freaking out. But we did make it.
00:10:02
Speaker
And then you're there probably... we were there, what, hour and 20 before the start? Yeah. Yeah, and that is a very exposed start. Today we were lucky. The weather was fine. I'd say, you know, I bought... you know I brought a broader hoodie I could donate, and there are places you do need some extra clothes there once you drop your bags off, because it is you're basically up really high. You're at 1,000 feet, so 350 metres of elevation, 330 metres so and it's exposed so it's windy and it's always like foggy even though was a beautiful day as we were driving there it was foggy at the top and so you need to stay warm because it's it's hard to up there i'd say
00:10:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely a something to be aware of. So ah but have it spending an hour and 20 up there, there is there's nothing up there. that you're just You're just open to the elements. There are toilets, but there's not many toilets. And I i was quite lucky. i ran and I ran over straight away and I got in quite instantly.
00:10:50
Speaker
um But within about four minutes, because all of the coaches turn up at the same time. Yeah. So if you if if you get there and and get out the coach, you suddenly you're just with thousands of people, a few thousand people just getting off coaches as well.
00:11:04
Speaker
And they all go to the toilet straight away because you've been on that coach for an hour. And whether you need it or not, you've got an hour and 20 minutes to kill. Everyone's going to go and get debt to this toilet. So it's probably wise to have a strategy before you go. There what there are toilets at the coaches before you get on. Yeah.
00:11:20
Speaker
But, I mean, there's not a lot you can do, really. You've got to queue up if you need the toilet. Or um or you go wild, basically. you go wild. There are a lot of people going wild, yeah. Yeah, you can get take you cant take your own toilet paper. I would say, also, they can't really think about that. like they I think every single port-a-loo in the entire area is involved in this event, and they have to have some at the at the expo park as well.
00:11:38
Speaker
And when you get when you drive to the event, you'll realise it's not actually very easy to take a lot of port-a-loos out there. It's pretty remote. So it is what it is, and you're in an area where you know there's this thick forests all around.
00:11:49
Speaker
yes I would say I wouldn't i would would encourage this but it's not the end of the world if you haven't got time to queue it was very relaxed people people didn't mind running it runninging off it's a good running spirit yeah um and the other thing to say is there there is nothing there's no food there there is no coffee there or anything like that so and I was annoyed because I was but were in a rush this morning and I didn't have a coffee and um I think that's the first time but not just going before a race just any morning I've not had a coffee you don't get a headache No, no, it's I was all right, but I wish I'd have planned it that a bit better.
00:12:23
Speaker
So, yeah, so once once you started, you do that for about an hour and 20 minutes. You're just basically, it's just a big long line. It's one road. Yeah, and you're not forced into a corral. Like, there's time signs up. Everyone just gets into the time sign appropriately. I would say that worked pretty well. And I think...
00:12:37
Speaker
people were quite honest about their time right yeah I know you had a bit of overtaking a start because you started off quite relaxed but I think you don't basically you're not there's no people forcing you into the corral you can go where you want but just you need to because it's quite a narrow road you need to stick to your right time basically there was a lot of confused people because they the the the times on that that passed ah along are like 3.30 to 4 and people were going in the wrong sections and they were asking lots of questions but it's pretty simple it's just one road and and with 5,000 runners it's not the end of the world no no no It's pretty fun and the road's relatively wide. is is The start bit, was it's a bit congested but it frees up pretty quickly.
00:13:14
Speaker
Okay, and there was a sack i was go to you this there was a song they played at the start. Caledonia. Caledonia, who's that by? I don't know who it's by but it's nice and then you have Pipers once you actually start piping you out so it's it's nice. I mean, I'm not Scottish, my wife is Scottish though and I feel an element of shared pride in the ah Pipers sending us off.
00:13:32
Speaker
Good, okay. So, the race itself, you as you've said before, you start high, you start about 370 feet. Yes. 9,000 feet up. 1,000 feet, yeah. 330 metres up, yeah. yeah yeah So, you start high up and instantly you start going down.
00:13:48
Speaker
Yes. Nick, you you you probably, you well, based on your speed and the way you're walking at the moment, you probably paid a lot more attention to the course than me. Talk to talk us through the course. The course is a net downhill, and it is fast, but you have to know what you're doing and manage it carefully. So the first 10 miles is where most the downhill in the race is, and the first mile is ridiculously quick. I ran a five-minute mile down it, having said I wouldn't do that, and then did it, because it just felt so easy.
00:14:11
Speaker
It's actually not... crazy steep it's just the perfect level of steepness to just run quick um and the road surface is incredible the whole way i would say that like you're very rarely and you you think you're in of nowhere and there' some really it's just flawless so you can run hard on the downhills without worrying you're goingnna kick up stones something like that so yeah so the first time of the race is most and there are some kickers in that like there's quite a hard kicker it was about four miles in like a little sharp hill and you've got ah manage those those little sharp hills because they do take it out of you bit and what they more important they take it out of you ahead of what's to come later so if you get for the first 10 miles you're going to be running fast most people run a very first fast half you're not going to negative this split this marathon tom might have because he was relaxed but it's not a marathon to negative split from 10 to 17 it's pretty flat it's you know there's still you you're nearly always up and down you're actually very rarely running flat i would say but it's just little ones so you just ride them out more or less
00:14:58
Speaker
Big Hill is ah this so the town of Dores. There's a big hill out of that. And it it starts with a mild gradient and you think, maybe this isn't so bad. And then there's a sign saying the monster's coming. So they know it's the big feature on the course. They know it's starting and it gets really steep. You probably finish that about basically yeah almost like exactly at the mile 20 sign. And you think, okay, that's good. I've done the big hill on the course. It's actually now a mile downhill to Inverness from here, except there's another kicker of a hill at Scannyport, the town of Scannyport, which is 22 miles.
00:15:24
Speaker
Short, sharp, again, enough to just knock you at a time when you are struggling already. then you get a couple of nice k's downhill to the inverness city which is then flat along the river to the end you hear the finish line just before you hit the mile 25 mark on the other side of the river and you've got to run all the way up the river and around to it but you can really hear the atmosphere starting to build and i'd say early on the course it's pretty quiet not a lot of people out there amount people on the course so it is is one way like i think tom tom mentioned in the video good for introverts you're not getting shouted at a lot but you're just looking at the lock and that's the other thing about the course you hit the lock a few couple of miles in before you're actually next to it isn't it
00:15:58
Speaker
yeah it's so Yeah, it takes a while to come down. so you're actually There's one point where you're right next to the lock. Yeah, for a long stretch. And that's really, really nice. You can see the water swaying nicely next year. It's nice and calming.
00:16:10
Speaker
but yeah, you do sort of wind in and out of the lock throughout the the course. So you're not looking at it the whole the whole time Yeah, and early on you're by a really nice river and then you yeah you basically eventually hit the lock from most stretch, coming in and out like Tom says, which obviously means you've hit the lowest level more or less because then you rise up and come down again back to sea level. There there are a few little um residential areas throughout, probably about three or four quite small places. Yeah. En route, where you do get, there's quite a, quite a lot, quite a lot, nice crowds there, and which is nice little pick-me-up, even though I am an intro introvert, it was nice just to have that very break-up every now and then. I loved it, I gave a calm morning to a couple of people, they like that. yeah um
00:16:51
Speaker
And then in terms of stuff on the course, there are four energy L stops, there were the year we did it, there's water every three miles or so in a bottle, so it's quite easy to drink, yeah I think. Litter, do not just throw your litter away on this course. Oh, got annoyed by this. Yeah.
00:17:04
Speaker
i was hot I was putting my gels in my pockets waiting to go to the... and then at a certain point I just took the gels when I knew there was a bin so I didn't have to carry it yeah but people were just dropping gels into the side of the right into the side of the road. It is stunningly beautiful this course and there are bins every mile I think more or less or at least you know zones where you can drop things and people pick it up and just make sure it it stays beautiful because they you know they're going to probably going to go over the course and pick up some bits but you know this event obviously like every event relies on goodwill and if people are trashing the area there's wind and it's blowing the gels into the tree line and they're never going to find those unless he's getting hot hyped up on Morton yes yeah yeah um so yeah that's the other thing do don't don't dispose dispose your rubbish carefully on the route it's not the same as a city marathon
00:17:45
Speaker
people are going to
Marathon Finish Experience
00:17:46
Speaker
clean those streets. it's seriously You are you out there. Hit Inverness, builds up, you turn, it's flat there, you come in to the finish, it's right by the event exp. All the races finish in the same spot, so you start to see the 10k markers.
00:17:57
Speaker
yeah You start to see 10k markers at 4k, which is a little early. It gets confusing, doesn't it? because you see a 4k marker, you go, God, there's still 6k left. You know that because you've got the ma markers, but like, oh, I thought, you know, i'm once I'm on the 10k route, I'm nearly there, but yeah.
00:18:09
Speaker
And then um you start to see the little, then there the 5k markers. Yeah. Basically, you cross the bridge and then you're okay to go, almost exactly. That's a lovely bit, that yeah that that whole section where you're running around, you're coming down, because you basically come down into the centre of Inverness and you go to that bridge and you come across the bridge and go back. that's that That's the bit where I went mental and ran really quickly. but that's the only point where you have loads of crowds and suddenly it all kicks off and you're like right let's get there take this home it's really nice yeah yeah and it is a fast course but there's a for a lot of people it won't be a fast course if you're not used to like even though it's hills you the uphills can rock you a lot more than you probably expect the short uphill can like ruin an entire mile for lots of people if they haven't paced the downhills correct and the downhill like my muscles after the race hurt more than any flat race i've ever done because of the ups and downs and i could feel my quads going by the end of downhill and luckily then it was
00:18:58
Speaker
flat for a bit and I can feel my hamstrings and glutes going off the downhills and after the uphills and it's it's really hard on you in lots of ways but you can certainly run really fast here to the point where you can run a world record here because a net downhill you can run a PB here I think I think it's hard enough of course I think the time I ran here is broadly equivalent to what have aimed for in a flat city marathon exactly the same exactly what I'd have aimed for and I think I'm in shape for yeah don't think I was quicker here than before Yeah, it's a difficult it's a difficult one. I think at the start they said 50% of the people were from Scotland who were taking part, yeah who were probably more used to running on that sort of route. yeah i think there's a lot of people that were there maybe that come from like Birmingham or somewhere. There is no way around Birmingham can you can yeah train in the same way that it that you are around Loch Ness. So it's a tricky one. I a lot of people did did struggle with it when they...
00:19:44
Speaker
because the what the thing people hear is it's net downhill and they think it's easy it's like Edinburgh's net downhill but it's not like this no and Edinburgh's just it's downhill then flat yeah and and then the wind plays havoc but here it's like I'd say each one of those little climbs which on a map look tiny because you see the big downhill and the big hill later quite similar to Boston actually It is, but yes, first bit, isn't it? It's downhill, Yeah, it's yeah exactly, that that's what Rachel said last year, she did at Boston as well, right? Yeah, yeah. And it's, those uphills, like, if you ran them on a normal run, you'd remember that.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah. Like, just a little one, not the big one. So they do, it's definitely fast, if you if you're good at that, and pace it right. Yeah. yeah, it's something to look out for, for sure. What are we talk about in these podcasts?
00:20:23
Speaker
Okay, so we've finished the race now and we've come back in into the expo. what is what What's it like being in the expo afterwards? Because we've done this with London and places where obviously there's you know trying to find your bags and all those sorts of things.
00:20:37
Speaker
It's probably a bit different with this because it's much smaller expo. It's very easy to find everything. is's not There's a lot of people there. Yeah, it's super easy. like You just go and pick your bag up from a field. yeah That's the other thing. Use a waterproof drop-off bag if the weather's bad. It was fine today. bag's going to be exposed quite a lot, I think. So it was fine today. i But yeah, I just wandered over. They look a bit shocked. They went, oh, right, yeah, we're just getting them now. And then they they found it.
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's a very it's very relaxed ah vibe to the to the expo finish at the end. But there's but you get you get your soup at the end. Obviously you get soup. I think we got some... So much soup. You get some preserve or something today. there's some ras That was just for us, I think.
00:21:15
Speaker
Oh, was it? Hospitality tent. Oh, was it? Nice. We got some sliced beetroot. That's how big we are these days. We're getting sliced beetroot from the pub. I'm going to enjoy that later when I get in from the pub. um So, there's yeah, there's not really much to say about that. there Obviously, there's the awards for the people like yourself who actually got a... yeah Stay for the presentations. We all like to see the presentations. Yeah, there was a presentation at 2 o'clock. Most of the other races are finished. Well, there all the other races will be finished by the time and most of the marathoners come in. Yeah, 10K starts 10.30, so they're normally out of the whole area by 12 when the marathon starts coming in. So it so it's pretty it's pretty busy there because I imagine there's a lot of the families and stuff from the 10Ks. Yeah, it's a nice level of busy. It's not hard to move around. You're not getting blocked off. is that You queue. If you want some food, you won't be queuing for long, but you are also a mile from the rest of Inverness where you can just, like, we're going to go and get food now yeah and have a drink or two, there's loads to do.
00:22:05
Speaker
Top tip, um the the main road that goes by the ah the lot and in Inverness, that's the road where all the runners come down. So there are spectators either side of it and runners coming down it. So it's quite hard to go back into Inverness that way because it's quite busy. So you can take little routes around the park um that will just to take you back round towards Inverness, but it's a bit... Yeah, I think the only thing we didn't mention is it is a closed road race for the most part.
00:22:31
Speaker
Once you get to Dora's where the big hill is, it's a big road and you're basically one half of road is closed. So you have to run on one side. It's not a problem. There'll be cones there. And that for that reason, you can't wear in-ear headphones. You can only wear shocks and stuff like that. yes um But that's probably worth mentioning. like You don't even really notice it in the race. just run the right side of the cones. It's not as much traffic, is there?
00:22:49
Speaker
No, no, no, no. And the start of the race isn't half corned off. It only becomes corned off later on. yeah's you like mar nineteen Yeah, like mile 19. So if you're closed road to most of the way, it's just that last little entrance entrance from um from Doris to Inverness. Excellent. Well, that's it really. So um that's ah that's our guide for the Loch Ness Marathon.
00:23:11
Speaker
We also have our race test video up on the channel so you can see a bit more about our specifics and and and how we raced the event ourselves and the kit that we use to do that. So ah thank you very much for listening. If you're interested in other marathon guides, we do have some other ones up on the as as podcasts and videos on the channel.
00:23:30
Speaker
But other than that, thanks a lot for listening and we'll catch you next time. Cheers.
Interview with Malcolm Sutherland
00:23:42
Speaker
We're here with Malcolm who is the event director of the Loch Ness Marathon and we're going to just have a little chat about the event itself. So, ah Nick, think you can ask a question, won't Yeah, the main question we have really is what makes Loch Ness stand out compared to the many other marathons out there? i think I think Loch Ness is just a complete complete different type of experience than you know Big City Marathon and I think people are looking for something a little bit different, a little bit special and I think the point-to-point route that we provide and just the whole event experience and everything that's on offer right from the start to the finish and the and the surrounding event is just is immense and people just love it.
00:24:21
Speaker
Nice. And um is there anything different happening this year that you're trying out or that people might not be aware of? and i think i think I think we've got some you know some great things going on over the weekend. We've got you know we've got the runners cafe going on. We've got lots of kit being sold. We've got food and drink.
00:24:40
Speaker
am And I think, yeah, today is just the time to sort of ask questions, you know, get all those nerves out of your out of your system and be ready for action for tomorrow. And then for tomorrow, we've got we've got an amazing event tomorrow.
00:24:54
Speaker
and We've got record entries for the event, sort of eight, well, we've got 10,700 entries across all the events. We have 5,800 in the marathon, which is incredible, with 50% of those runners coming from outside Scotland.
00:25:09
Speaker
And I think we've got 84 different nationalities represented. So it's It's got a global appeal, it really does attract people from all over the country and all over the world. too That's something that's important to mention as well, is it's not just a marathon, theres you've got three other races tomorrow and it's lots for kids.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah, lots lots going on for kids which is really really sort of dear to our hearts as well actually. So we've got, starting with the very small kids, we've got the Weean Essay for the under five year olds. So we've got 300 of those little little guys and girls sort are running around. And then we've got the 5K, we work with schools and clubs to encourage as much participation for those who might not you know get involved otherwise. So that's really important within the 5K and in the slight step up. Again, we've got, you know, runners of all abilities, which is what it's all about. So yeah, no, it's really cool.
00:26:00
Speaker
So um what do you think is probably the the the course itself? What do you think is the standout thing about the course, which people talk about more than anything? I think the fact that people are transported out by coach out to the marathon start, you know, the the the route is a point to point.
00:26:15
Speaker
The event starts in the high ground. So you've got this amazing panoramic view right from the start. and from there you drop down towards Loch Ness and then it it's constantly changing, you know, it's not a sort of samey samey type event, and you know, you're not looking at house after house or whatever and and and just the whole experience of running ah alongside, you know, the world's most famous Loch is just, yeah, I think people find it incredibly inspiring um and What people really talk about is just how friendly it is as well. You know, the the fact, you know, lots of people come here, they've done lots of other events, but actually the thing that comes back in all their feedback and post-event sort of chat is that, wow, it's just one of the most friendly events in the world that they've ever been to. And and for, you know, a large number, of particularly marathon runners who've been around the world, often cite Loch Ness as their friendliest and best marathon, of course. we've definitely We've definitely seen that. We've had loads of people come up to us and ask us questions and so wanted wanted to talk to us about the race. We don't get that all the time at races, so yeah definitely a very friendly atmosphere. We spoke to people from a Colorado. So you said 84 nationalities. what is is it mainly Is America one of the biggest places that comes out? Because it's a very big thing, I think, Loch Ness in America. i think yeah know I think North Americans, they love...
00:27:30
Speaker
what they love the UK they love Scotland and obviously that they love the Highlands and I think Loch Ness for them is just something extra special and pretty unique so completely different to what what they'd be able to do otherwise for sure.
00:27:45
Speaker
And maybe Tomas you talking about the US in general and this tourism scene here. I imagine the summer is pretty busy in the Highlands but is there any weekend as big as this and otherwise in Inverness? It's 10,000 to 11,000 people to send on the city. No I mean Inverness I mean it is the capital of the Highlands but it's you know it's a small it's a small city and and actually for this number of runners to come from all over the place who are all staying eating sleeping here in in hotels, bread and breakfast etc it has a big impact in a good way and and people know it's marathon weekend people know and and engage with that. The sport locally is just fantastic and we're so so lucky with that.
00:28:18
Speaker
and And yeah, no, I think, yeah, no, it's amazing for the area. yeah And it really positions Inverness, the Highlands, Loch Ness on that stage of being able to sort deliver, you know, fantastic events as well, which is great. Something that definitely comes across to me here is that you have today the feel of a big city marathon that everyone knows it's the marathon weekend, the atmosphere is very good, but without with a scale that isn't quite as off-putting, I guess sometimes there's big city marathon, so yeah, do think it's a really nice marriage of both of those things because the atmosphere in the city is really nice, yeah, it's very because everyone that is up for it. And and the roads the roads are fantastic because the roads vary in width and shape and what have you, but it's obviously all on road. But I think, yeah, the fact that you're not running down a motorway or running down a dual carriageway and running through these small roads and with the numbers of runners, you know, the thousands of runners, it's it's not it's not too intimidating. So I think people who might find those massive crowds at some city, some some events have, and this is this is a very good place to come for that.
00:29:19
Speaker
So um what would you say for you is your favorite part of the weekend? Is it just get getting home afterwards and get it getting into... so That's a really tough question.
00:29:30
Speaker
I think think it's so much work going into the events, getting this far and even to today and then it's, you know, tomorrow is just like, it's it's always a relief to get to tomorrow and just to be able to implement all the plans that you've been preparing for and then actually seeing The marathon start up where, you know, in this incredible location and the 10K starting and the 5K starting and the wee under five year olds running and then just seeing people coming through the finish line and the emotion and, you know, they, well, seeing how much effort people have put in, whether it's, it doesn't, doesn't matter what distance they've been running as well, you know, everyone's running their own, their own marathon depending on what they're doing and yeah, just, just seeing all the, all the people finishing is, is the best bit actually because you know that you've,
00:30:18
Speaker
giving people that fantastic opportunity which is excellent ah we well hopefully we will be two of those people tomorrow ideally I hope so I'm confident well thank you thank you very much and yeah we'll see we'll see you tomorrow hopefully great yeah and I look forward to seeing the finish line yeah all the best
00:30:36
Speaker
this episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley and Nick Harris Fry it was produced by Tom Wheatley the music was by Fear of Tigers music