The EMF Hairy Haggis Team Relay is an opportunity for a team of 4 runners to take part in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. The 26.2 miles is split into 4 legs, each runner will run one leg. The approximate distance of each leg is shown below:

Leg 1: The Royal Leg – 8.3 miles: Starting on Potterow with the picturesque backdrop of The University of Edinburgh’s Mcewan Hall, this incredible city centre route brings you past all the iconic sights of the city.

This part of the city has an enriched history, running through both old and new towns you will pass the sights of, Greyfriars Bobby, Princes Street Gardens and the Scott Monument.

The route then heads down the historic Royal Mile, heading past the breathtaking architecture of the Scottish Parliament building. From here you can look up and take in the spectacular Arthurs Seat & Salisbury Crags, as well as the Palace of Holyrood, before departing the Royal Park and heading east towards the coast, taking in all the sights of the city’s seaside hotspot Portobello promenade, before reaching the first relay changeover at Fisherrow Links, Musselburgh.

Leg 2: The Cock & Pan Leg – 5.5 miles: The route then crosses the River Esk and past Musselburgh Racecourse and then continues beyond Prestongrange Mining Museum, Prestonpans, the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Port Seton where reaching the second relay changeover at Port Seton Links.

Leg 3: The Gosford Leg – 8 miles: It then races onto picturesque East Lothian, along Scotland’s golf coast which boasts 22 courses including some of the world’s oldest and most admired like North Berwick, Gullane and Muirfield. The route passes the village of Longniddry then enters the grounds of Gosford House before looping around and heading back to Port Seton and the final relay changeover.

Leg 4: The Glory Leg – 4.4 miles: Now in the home straight the route passes through Port Seton, Cockenzie and Prestonpans back past Musselburgh Links, the famous golf course officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest golf course in the world. The marathon finishes on playing fields at Pinkie St Peter’s Primary School. Well done Hairies!

For more information on the event, please visit the official race website.

Please read the information below about taking part if you have a disability and/or require assistance on event day.

There are no separate wheelchair or handbike races, anyone entering the events will be included within the mass field for their respective race. Anyone taking part in a wheelchair or handbike must be self propelled for the entire race, therefore, participants in electric wheelchairs and individuals being pushed by a friend/colleague are not permitted on the course.

The race organiser will do everything they can to accommodate wheelchair and handbike users but there are also time limits which all entrants must stay within.

Please note, frame runners will not be in the wheelchair category. 

A carer, guide or any other runner in a support role is eligible for an entry at no cost. They must set up their own 'MyRunning' account and create an entry into the relevant event.

Once at the payment stage, email the race organiser using the Contact Us form here, explaining your support role and they can manually approve your entry free of charge. This must happen prior to the entry cut off date or you will not be able to take part.

For more information you can check out the race organiser’s Event FAQs here or please get in touch with our team at community&[email protected] to discuss further.