| Great Edinburgh Run | |
|---|---|
 A fun runner at the race finish point in 2009 | |
| Date | Early October |
| Location | Edinburgh |
| Event type | Road |
| Distance | 10 mile |
| Established | 1993 |
| Official site | Great Edinburgh Run |
The Great Edinburgh Run was an annual ten-mile road running race in the city centre of Edinburgh in Scotland from 1993 to 2017. It was part of the Great Run series of competitions, a 10 km (6.2 mi) event which extended to ten miles (16 km) from 2014.
The race was first run in 1993 as the Great Caledonian Run.[1] It was moved from Edinburgh to the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire in 1998, and was hosted there for seven years as part of the Balmoral Road Races, a collection of races from 3 km to 10 km.[2] The Caledonian run became more of a national level competition in its stint in Balmoral as the 5-mile race. The race in Balmoral was voted the nation's most scenic run by Runner's World magazine in 2004.[3] The competition was financially supported by Scottish Enterprise Grampian in a partnership to promote tourism in north-east Scotland, but after the BBC decided to stop televising the event it returned to Edinburgh in 2005.[4] During the seven-year period that the run was not held in the city, a separate and unrelated competition was held there under the title of the Capital City Challenge 10K.[5] The Great Edinburgh Run acquired its current title in 2006.[6]
From 2005 the Great Edinburgh Run was held on a course within the city centre. Starting in Holyrood Park, runners would see a number of the city's famous landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Bobby, Scott Monument and Arthur's Seat.
The men's course record for the 10 km (28:03 minutes) was set by Martin Mathathi in 2011, while Florence Kiplagat is the women's course record holder with her time of 32:10 minutes from 2010.[7] Amateur runner Dave Lewis won the 1994 men's race ahead of Olympians John Treacy and Gary Staines.[8]
- ^ Gillon, Doug (1993-10-02). Martin at head of the capital show. Herald Scotland. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Roden, Alan (2005-01-20). Road race gets set to run back to Capital. Scotsman. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Bupa Great Caledonian is voted most scenic run. Bupa (2004-01-28). Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Smith, Graeme (2004-08-18). End of road for Balmoral races as BBC pulls out . Herald Scotland. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Mooney, Chris (2004-09-13). Capital city challenge 2004. Scotsman. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Edwards, Gareth (2006-05-08). Runners reign supreme in drizzle. Scotsman. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Martin, David (2011-10-02). Mathathi clocks course record in Edinburgh 10Km. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-02.
- ^ Lewis runs away with capital title . Herald Scotland (1994-10-03). Retrieved on 2011-10-02.