Edinburgh Marathon Festival

Marathon, Half marathon, 10K, 5K in Edinburgh, normally held in May. A mixed marathon course — Net-downhill marathon leaving the city along the coast to Musselburgh — often wind-assisted.

The Edinburgh Marathon Festival at a glance

Distances	Marathon, Half marathon, 10K, 5K
Main distance	42.2 km (marathon)
Usually held	May
Course	Mixed
City	Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Typical conditions	13.9°C high / 7.4°C low, rain on ~42% of days

Net-downhill marathon leaving the city along the coast to Musselburgh — often wind-assisted.

Entering the Edinburgh Marathon Festival

Entry fees, closing dates and start times are set by the organiser and change every year, so they are not reproduced here — a stale deadline is worse than none. The organiser’s own site and its social channels are the authoritative source for the current year, and are where entry opens.

What is stable, and what this page covers: the month the race is held, what the course is like, the conditions you should expect, and how long a build-up the distance needs.

Weather at previous Edinburgh Marathon Festival races

Across the last ten years, Edinburgh in May has averaged a daily high of 13.9°C and a low of 7.4°C, with at least a millimetre of rain on about 42% of days.

These are recorded observations for the race month averaged over ten years, not a forecast and not a single past race day — race dates move, so one day’s figures would mislead. Source: Open-Meteo historical archive.

How to prepare for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival

How long to train

Build for 16 to 20 weeks from a base you already hold rather than from nothing. For marathon the block should peak at a longest run of 30–32 km, reached at least two weeks before race day so there is time to taper. Three weeks of taper is standard: cut volume by roughly a third each week while keeping some race-pace work so the legs stay sharp.

Training for this course

The course mixes surfaces and gradients, so build a training block that does the same rather than repeating one flat loop. Vary where you run week to week so nothing on race day is unfamiliar.

Conditions in May

Conditions are usually good for racing: highs average 13.9°C and lows 7.4°C in May, which is close to ideal for marathon running. Dress for the temperature about ten degrees warmer than it actually is, since you will warm up within two kilometres. Rain is common — around 42% of days that month see at least a millimetre — so do some training runs wet and know which kit does not chafe.

Fuelling

Over 42 km you will need 30–60 g of carbohydrate an hour from early on, not once you feel empty. Rehearse the exact products in training — the gut trains like anything else — and check in advance which brand is handed out on course, because switching to an unfamiliar one mid-race is a common and avoidable mistake.

Race week

Sleep matters most two nights before, not the night before, so protect that one. Keep eating normally with a modest tilt toward carbohydrate, lay out kit the night before, and do nothing new: no new shoes, no new breakfast, no new socks. Plan to arrive at the start with time to spare — marathon fields move slowly through bag drop and security.

Distances and where the race is run

Marathon — 42.2 km
Half marathon — 21.1 km
10K — 10 km
5K — 5 km

The pin marks Edinburgh city centre, the area the Edinburgh Marathon Festival starts and finishes in. This is not the course line: the route is set by the organiser and changes between editions, so the official course map for the current year is theirs to publish. The routes below are for training on the same roads.

Train on these roads: 10K routes in Edinburgh · long runs in Edinburgh · GPS art routes