The re-imagined Moray Marathon made its return at the weekend (21 April) with more than 200 runners enjoying a route through beautiful Moray Coastal towns and villages via Lossiemouth. The new incarnation of the popular marathon event is now organised by Chilled Running who commented last year: "There’s now no need to worry about getting rejected for the 98th year in a row from London Marathon!

"We are so happy to be offering a local road marathon in the spring, that doesn’t require expensive and stressful travel, all your family and friends can come, and you can still use it to qualify for your dream marathons!"

And it certainly ticked all those boxes, running on the same day as its southern counterpart it may not be as famous, but it certainly impressed those who took part. Muriel Macleod commented after the race: "Thank you Chilled Running for a fab day. Great organisation and atmosphere, plus fantastic marshals and cycle heroes."

The race was won by Donnie MacDonald of Inverness Harriers in a time of 02:34:21 with second place going to James Tole of Metro Aberdeen RC in 02:35:40. The third place went to Grant Jeans in 02:37:01. 

In the womens race it was Stornoway Running & AC's Muriel MacLeod who won in 03:01:58. Second place went to Lynne Stephen of Fife Athletics Club in 03:21:28 and third to Tessa Milton in 03:22:43.

The good new is that if you are feeling inspired to take part in next year's race then you can sign up already with early bird entries open now. The 2025 date for the diary is 13 April and there is good news for those of you who are put off entering a marathon due to restrictive cut off times as organisers plan to extend theirs to 7 hours in 2025. They say: "For those running 5.5 hours or more we will assign you into the first wave at 7am to receive maximum support along the course and the finish line experience!"

The other piece of news is that there are plans for other distances to run alongside the marathon with a 20 Mile race already in the offing. A first for Moray.

If you would like to know more, visit the Moray Marathon website.

Image: Moray Marathon Facebook