Background: The man who got the capital's jogging masses up and running

Published on Monday 13 December 2010 17:17

EDINBURGH waited 17 long years to host a marathon before Geoff Sims took on the challenge of staging the event against the city's historic backdrop.

The old Edinburgh People's Marathon was staged five times in the 1980s but ended in 1986, the same year the city hosted the Commonwealth Games, after support dwindled away and sponsorship money dried up.

A marathon between Fife and Edinburgh was tried in 1999 but was scrapped after just one year over public funding problems.

From the outset, Mr Sims had lofty ambitions for the event, with a target of attracting 10,000 runners.

Although the first few events were successful in attracting 3,000-4,000 runners, the event was thrown into crisis when Mr Sims' public backers withdrew.

In a bid to keep costs down, the event was re-routed away from Edinburgh city centre, with runners finishing at Musselburgh Racecourse in East Lothian. The event is now believed to be worth in the region of 3 million.