After having such a fabulous time last year, I volunteered (with a little gentle persuasion) to organise our trip again. This year we stayed at the Travel Lodge at Musselburgh as it was available and we had stayed there before.  Hotel was basic but ideal in location & good size rooms. Richard very kindly volunteered his school mini bus & Andrew did the driving & what a bonus it was we could get around & kept costs down.  We travelled up Friday night & grabbed a bite to eat on route from the Westmorland Services which does some great food and arrived about 9.30pm.  We travelled home after the Marathon had ended and all arrived safely back around 9pm so a long but very enjoyable weekend.

Many thanks to all those who joined us and made it a great trip!!!!

The entrants were:

2k – Ed Howell, Evelyn Barber & Lorcan Cronin

5k – Leisha Cronin, Sonya Hynes, Sacha Howell, Ellie Howell, Debbie Beresford, Lesley Loftus & Denis Kelly

10k – Melanie Barber & Mike Cronin

Half Marathon – Diane Frost, Lynn Clarke, Jackie Ellison & Jo Fallows

Marathon – Denis Kelly and Sophie Flanagan

Below are a few personal accounts of a great weekend both competitive racing and a social outing.

As a club we would like to pass on our sincere thanks to the Festival organisers who did an amazing job & helped us greatly with a few entry problems we had and it was very much appreciated, they did us proud and we all thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and hope to come back next year!!.

Debbie

Photos here

So bags packed, running vest check.. Running shorts check… bottle of wine wrapped in running leggings check… we set off Manchester harrier’s road trip to Edinburgh has started.
3 small cans of G&T the mini bus mounts the curb, we take the roundabout on 2 wheels Sonya grabbing on for dear life and no I’m not driving the great Mr Beresford is providing all this excitement. We arrive a short 5 hours later to our hotel.
The Saturday morning off we head to Musselburgh train station (this was our pre run warm up) a leisurely 25 minute ‘endurance ‘ stroll followed by a quick threshold sprint down the platform to catch the train. We arrive at the start for the 10k 5k and junior 2k runs. What an amazing atmosphere even the hairy haggis was out!
We had a great meal that night with the half marathon and marathon runner’s carbing up on their pasta and water while we indulged with pizza and lager.
The weather had been fantastic all day but we went to bed with a weather warning for the Sunday.
Sunday…unbelievably the harriers had once again brought out the sunshine the highland forecast was not too be, it was an early start for the runners but a great mission/adventure for me, Evelyn and Eleanor to get to the finish line to see Jackie finish her half. Back to hotel for quick freshen up and then back to watch marathon and relay runners come in which was emotional. For any future road trip wannabees a tip is too volunteer to be a Marshall for the harriers and bring your free Marshall coat as we Marshalls know “the power of a Marshall jacket” we get too cross wherever we want ha-ha..
Mr B got us all home safe Debbie had made sure we all got to our races and all children were collected and now I can put faces to the names on my email list.
What a fantastic weekend no blood plenty of sweat and a few tears thank you so much
Melanie and Evelyn barber

We had a fantastic time in Edinburgh and we were proud to run under the clubs name.

The support we have received from Debbie and other club members has been amazing.. I truly would not have completed my run without the months of training Debbie has helped me with and amazing Lesley who didn’t let me give up.

Thank you to Andrew for the driving round he did and to Debbie again for the organising of everything. Well done to all who ran.

Leisha

‘The most memorable parts of the half-marathon was running along Portobello promenade and watching people strolling on the sand with the backdrop of a distant mountainous landscape – beautiful. After the finish, it was great to see a friendly face – my mate Lynn – waiting for me with my bag of warm clothes! In less than an hour we were back at the hotel soaking in a hot bubble bath followed by a nice cuppa tea – absolute bliss and lovely memories!!’

Diane

Eleanor and I had a bonnie time in Scotland. We really enjoyed cheering everyone on in the 5k, 10k and kids races. I would recommend the half (or full) marathon, or marathon relay, as the course is picturesque and the crowds are so friendly. We enjoyed spending time with everyone and getting to know other club members better.

Jackie and Eleanor