Scotland’s fastest growing running event the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run will return to Edinburgh for the second time in as many years on Sunday 7th May 2006.

The former BUPA Great Caledonian Run last year successfully returned to the capital after a seven year absence with over 7,000 people taking part in the popular event organised by Nova International, also organisers of the BUPA Great North Run and BUPA Great South Run.

The challenging 10k road run takes participants around Arthur Seat, giving magnificent views of Edinburgh Castle and includes a run down Princes Street.

The BUPA Great Edinburgh Run is for runners of all abilities and attracts large numbers of competitors all running for many different reasons, some take part to raise money for charity, some to achieve personal goals and some just for fun!

Another unique and exciting quality about this event is that everyone that takes part gets the chance to line up with the world’s best. Two international elite races will head up the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run showcasing the world’s best international distance runners.

Last year’s competitors in the event included arguably the world’s greatest ever female distance runner in Derartu Tulu from Ethiopia. Last years female winner was Jelena Prokopcuka from Latvia who went on to win the New York Marathon and Spaniard Juan Carlos de la Ossa who triumphed in the men’s race and went on to become the fastest European over 10k on the road.

The Corporate Challenge
The BUPA Great Edinburgh Run also includes a business challenge. State of the art ‘ChampionChip’ timing allows organisers to hold a separate ‘race within a race’ encouraging businesses to enter the popular event as a team. There are prizes for small, medium and large businesses. Entries are accepted for teams of male, female and mixed runners with a minimum of four and maximum of 8 members in a team.

See yourself on TV!
Channel five will capture all the action with a 40 minute highlights programme of the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run on the evening of the event.

You can enter on line at www.greatrun.org or call the event hotline on 0870 011 3337.

Tesco Junior and Mini Great Edinburgh Run
The first ever Tesco Junior and Mini Great Edinburgh Run will take place on Saturday 6th May kicking off a memorable weekend of sport in Scotland’s capital.

Last year thousands of children got involved in Britain’s biggest and best junior running programme with numerous Tesco Mini and Junior runs taking place all over the country and 2006 will get even more young people involved.

The event itself takes place at The Meadows in the centre of the city and is separated into two categories. The Tesco Mini Great Edinburgh Run is for children aged 8 years and under and covers a distance of approximately 1.5km, the Tesco Junior Great Edinburgh run is for children aged from 9 – 14 years and covers a distance of 2.5km.

Matthew Turnbull, manager of the Junior Great Run running programme said “The popularity of these events is growing every year. We have an established relationship with Tesco and together we are dedicated to getting more young people involved in running, active and most importantly having fun!”

To enter the Tesco Mini or Junior Great Edinburgh Run visit www.greatrun.org.