Kirkcudbright Academy Half Marathon makes long awaited return

Kirkcudbright Academy Half Marathon makes its long-awaited return this weekend.

The race is being held for the 37th time after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of runners are set to test themselves over the 13.1 mile route, as well as a 10k, with plenty of walkers also set to tackle the course.

Race director Richard Nash is delighted at how many people are set to take part.

He said: “We have taken some Covid mitigations in terms of how we organise the race and do entries.

“We’ve done online entries only. The biggest fear is you wouldn’t get the numbers you might expect because quite a few people like to book on the day and see what the weather is going to do.

“It’s actually turned out really well and one thing that took me by surprise was we have more walker entries than I’ve seen for a long time. We’ve got more walkers than we have people in the 10k.

“Across all three races we have more than 250 entries. In the last 11 days it really picked up. I think people have seen the long-range weather forecast and felt they can run it.”

The fun begins at 9am on Saturday with the walkers set on their way. The half marathon and the 10k will begin at 11am.

There is no children’s fun run this year and no entries on the day for any event.

Among the 10k runners is Chaz Kinnear who took part in the first half marathon in 1983. Runners will start at Kirkcudbright Academy and complete a lap of the town – including a run on St Mary’s Isle – then head out on the Beeches road to Twynholm.

After a run around the village, it’s back south towards Kirkcudbright – enjoying the fantastic scenery of the Solway Estuary and Kirkcudbright Bay.

There’s then another short run through Kirkcudbright before the finish line at the