Monster effort: Nessie completes Baxters Loch Ness Marathon

Series of virtual events held to celebrate opening of entries for Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running 2021

Nessie has today completed the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon route to officially open the 2021 event for super early-bird entry.

The Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running 2021 will take place on 3^rd October.

The festival incorporates the Marathon, River Ness 10K, Corporate Challenge, 5K and Wee Nessie. The festival is also a major fundraising event with 18 official charities with an estimated £1,041,120 raised for charity in 2019.

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’ 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.

Also there to share food inspiration was Darren Sivewright, innovation chef from Baxters Food Group, as well as other contributors such as runner Fiona Rennie, who has run all 18 Loch Ness Marathons since it began in 2002.

Earlier today runners were encouraged to wear their Loch Ness Marathon t-shirts or something tartan or Scottish and get out on a run, on what should have been the 2020 Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running. Runners were asked to share their photos on social media using the hashtag #RunLochNess.

Viewers could also enter a prize draw and were asked to suggest their favourite songs for a RunLochNess playlist, which can now be found on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36lhQXW

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.

Being interviewed by Bryan Burnett after her run, Nessie said: “I was gutted when I realised the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon had been cancelled this year but I’m now over the moon to be able to sign-up for the 2021 event. I somehow managed to set a new PB today so I’m hopeful that with the encouragement of my fellow runners and that special Loch Ness buzz, I can smash that PB again next year!”

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 3^rd October 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 Chairman & 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.”

Next year’s Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running will take place on Sunday 3^rd October 2021. Super early bird entry for 2021 opens Sunday 4^th October 2020. Runners can sign up here: www.lochnessmarathon.com

Watch back virtual Loch Ness Marathon Runners Cafe here.

Watch back Nessie running the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon here.