It's the news that many Scottish runners feared as organisers have confirmed that Stirling Scottish Marathon has been cancelled. The reason given is lack of entries!

Stirling Scottish Marathon last took place in 2019 with both the 2020 and 2021 events cancelled due to the pandemic. Entry links for the 2022 abruptly disappeared Wednesday (23 March) although entries have been actively encouraged on the Stirling Scottish Marathon Facebook page until as recently as last Sunday (20 March).

A post appeared on a local community website page Wednesday (23 March) suggesting that Stirling Council had released the news but this could not be verified until now. Organisers have made no comment on the offical website or on their social media feeds heightening runners' frustration. Communication finally came today via an email to entrants.

This is a real kick in the teeth for Scottish runners. There were concerns when the 2021 event was cancelled as restrictions would have allowed the event to go ahead in some form at the time. Those concerns appear to have been well founded as today's news breaks. Organisers state that a full refund will be made available to the thousands of runners who have entered this event since as far back as 2019!

Scottish runners will be scrambling to gain a place in more established Scottish events like Edinburgh Marathon Festival, Loch Ness Marathon or Great Scottish Run as they don't want all their training to go to waste.

It's a really disappointing day for Scottish runners who have suffered more than their English counterparts over the last 2 years with tighter restrictions enforcing the cancellation of their favourite mass participation running events.

Image: Pixabay