The Great Edinburgh run is a 10 mile race through the heart of Scotland's capital city with a route that takes in plenty of interesting locations. Starting in the shadow of Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park the route loops out the park through the the Abbeyhill area before heading up the Royal Mile. and up the Royal Mile. From there the route goes past Waverley Station and a short out and back section on Waverley Bridge before a big climb up Market Street. George IV Bridge takes you past Greyfriars Bobby and The National Museum of Scotland.
The next section takes you through the University part of town and on to The Meadows, a real highlight this year was running through the cherry tree lined paths. The West Port, Grass Market and Cowgate sections lead onto The Pleasance and a steady climb up St Leonards Street back towards Holyrood park. The route then does a loop round Duddingston Loch, through Duddingston Village and eventually back round Arthur's Seat to the start.
I found the route fairly challenging with some cobbled sections and plenty of elevation and descents. The water stations were well organised and spaced out nicely.
Like all Great Run events I've done the organisation is spot on. Registration is simple and both the start and finish are well organised. There's a baggage drop which is well managed by security. Always good to have a warm-up at the start of a race which gets everyone psyched up for the race ahead! The goody bag at the end contained the usual medal, technical T-shirt and so forth.
It's definitely one of my favourite races and such a pity that's it's not being staged in 2018.