Great Edinburgh Run set to be televised for first time

THE cameras will be rolling when the starter's gun fires at this year's Bupa Great Edinburgh Run, as the event is televised for the first time.

Images of runners passing by some of Edinburgh's best known landmarks will be broadcast live nationwide and organisers hope the event will showcase the city's attractions as well as the race.

The Evening News-backed event on May 3 will also feature a new start and finish line located outside the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge.

In previous years the race was based on the Meadows but it is one of several events to have relocated this year after concerns that the park was becoming churned up and muddy from overuse.

Participants will still run alongside the Meadows, but will use Melville Drive, avoiding the grassy areas. Event manager Andy Mitchelmore said: "We moved into the city because the Meadows needs to be rested, but I think having the start and finish in the tight confines of George IV Bridge will add to the atmosphere and having it closer to the city will bring it closer to the landmarks that are associated with Edinburgh."

Chief operating officer of national events agency EventScotland, Paul Bush, added: "This new route will really showcase the best of the city and the event will be further enhanced by the live broadcast on Channel 5, helping reach an even wider audience. "There is no better advertisement for the Great Edinburgh Run or, indeed, Edinburgh than the city's historic landmarks and spectacular landscape."

Record entry levels are expected, with more than 10,000 runners likely to take to the streets for the fifth year of the event. They will be encouraged by pipers at every kilometre marker and three or four live bands. Apart from the alteration to the start and finish point, the route is largely the same as in previous years.

From George IV Bridge, participants will cross the Royal Mile and run down The Mound into Princes Street Gardens. After crossing Waverley Bridge they then rejoin the Royal Mile, passing Holyrood Palace and the Parliament, before turning into Holyrood Park and following Queen's Drive beneath Salisbury Crags.

Heading up St Leonard's Street, runners will pass along the length of Cowgate and Grassmarket before heading down to the Meadows and up Buccleuch Street and Potterrow towards the finish.