On your marks, get set, glow for light fantastic

ARTHUR’S Seat is set to come alive with light tonight in one of the most ambitious projects in festival history as hundreds of runners and walkers snake around its slopes in the first dress rehearsal for the Speed of Light.

For the next three weeks as darkness falls, volunteer runners and up to 800 ticket-buying walkers from all over the world will ascend Arthur’s Seat in choreographed groups, the runners wearing light suits and the walkers with light staffs whose speed and altitudes trigger performances of electronic music.

“The vision we are all going to create is about to come together, but it will be different every night for every person, whether you are running or in the walking audience,” said Cat Meighan, an Edinburgh College of Art student, and a run leader for the event.

“It’s not more gruelling than my normal routine,” said Ms Meighan, who goes hill running three or four times a week, and who, with another run leader will lead a group of 15 people.

Speed of Light is backed by the Legacy Trust as part of the cultural programme celebrating the Olympic Games, orchestrated by the Scottish light events company NVA, whose past projects include a similar, though far less ambitious event, on the Old Man of Storr, on Skye.

The dress rehearsal starts from 9pm, with some members of the running teams going as walkers on the first night. Ticketed performances begin tomorrow.

Ms Meighan’s father Michael Meighan, a retired Glaswegian businessman and writer with a play, Mungo Boys, in the Fringe this year, is a walk leader, helping marshal up to 24 people on the hill. His preparation has included first aid and radio training. along with map reading.

He said: “The briefings have been intensive. It’s nothing new to me but I’m sure it is more daunting for a lot of young people.”

Another walk leader, Hannah Ayre, 37, who works in arts education in Edinburgh, said: “I’m going nocturnal for the summer, the energy levels will be a challenge. Some days it’s not going to finish until 2am and I may be having to get up for work.”