Monster effort: 'Nessie' completes Baxters Loch Ness Marathon 2020
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'Nessie' has today completed the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon route to officially open the 2021 event for early-bird entry.
The Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running 2021 will take place on October 3.
The festival incorporates the marathon, River Ness 10K, Corporate Challenge, 5K and Wee Nessie. The festival is also a major fundraising event.
The 2020 event was marked with a virtual ‘Runners Café’ on Saturday evening. Held on Facebook and Instagram, the virtual event took the place of the popular pre-marathon event usually held at Inverness’s Bught Park the day before the festival of running.
The virtual ‘Runners Café’ was hosted by race commentator Bryan Burnett and included chats and Q&A sessions with sports presenter Vassos Alexander and endurance running coach Tom Craggs, as well as Malcolm Sutherland, event director of Baxters Loch Ness Marathon.
An event spokeswoman said: "Having been unaware of the 2020 event’s cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Loch Ness Monster made a rare appearance and decided to run the route anyway."
Malcolm Sutherland, event director of Baxters Loch Ness Marathon, said: “We couldn’t let the 2020 event weekend pass without celebrating what we all love about the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running. Thank you to Bryan and our guests for sharing their Loch Ness experiences with us and chatting all things running.
“We hope it gave viewers a flavour of what makes this event so special and we already can’t wait to welcome you back on October 3, 2021. We know the Loch Ness Marathon is on many people’s bucket lists, and if 2020 has taught us anything it is that we should make the most of opportunities, so why not make 2021 your year and sign up?”
Audrey Baxter, executive chairwoman and group CEO of Baxters Food Group, said: “The Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running is one of the highlights of the year for us and many others and we’re really excited to welcome people back to the event in 2021. I’m sure everyone will be looking forward to experiencing this very special event and Highland hospitality in person next year.”
Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland Director of Events, said: “The Baxters Loch Ness Marathon is one of the world’s most-loved marathons. It brings people from all over the globe to experience a marathon in a beautiful setting by a world-famous loch with renowned Scottish Highland hospitality.
“It’s been great to see the virtual Runners Café event taking place online to mark this year’s event and we look forward to supporting the organisers to welcome everyone back for the event in 2021.”
Runners can sign up here: www.lochnessmarathon.com
