Pupils from Edinburgh’s Broughton Primary School are celebrating after they were revealed as winners of the 2016 Edinburgh Marathon Festival Junior Races competition. Over 800 children from schools across Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Fife took part in last May’s event, which was the biggest in event’s history.
Young runners aged 6-8 took part in the 1.5k race and 9-12 year olds raced over 2k as part of a packed weekend of running last May which also included the 5k, 10k, Team Relay, Half Marathon and Marathon.
GB London Olympic Athlete Freya Ross and EMF mascot, Mr Hairy Haggis, made a special visit to Broughton Primary’s full school assembly on Monday morning to award the school with their winning trophy and £150 worth of sports equipment vouchers.
The Parent School Association (PSA) who organised training for the pupils in the lead up to the festival said: “We are absolutely delighted to hear that Broughton Primary school have won the EMF schools competition. It's wonderful to get the recognition for all the children's hard work and efforts, both in training and on the day.”
“The Edinburgh Marathon Festival is important for our school community. This is our third year in a row we’ve taken part -the sense of achievement enjoyed by our children on race day is incredible - we love being a part of it!.”
Broughton Primary School were also awarded with ‘Super Active School’ status in 2016. The ’Super Active Schools’ initiative was launched success of The Daily Mile with the main aim to recognise and reward the increased efforts of getting kids active throughout schools in Edinburgh, The Lothians and Fife.
Neil Kilgour, Event Director of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival congratulated Broughton Primary for their efforts:
“Pupils and staff from Broughton Primary School are a brilliant example of why we do the junior races at EMF and we are really proud that these races help make real change.
Broughton’s dedication and commitment through organised training ‘fun runs’ prior to EMF weekend reflects how the school are determined to make the children more active. We realise it’s important to build on this momentum of keeping our children more active and by encouraging kids to get involved with the EMF junior races it provides a special occasion where they can celebrate a sense of achievement and inclusion as they cross the finish line.”
Due to the success of the races in recent years, the 2017 Edinburgh Marathon Festival sees the introduction of two new junior races - the junior 5K will be open to kids aged 11-18 and the kids’ kilometre will accommodate ages 3-6. Along with the 1.5k and 2k, this means there will be 4 different junior events taking place throughout the day on Saturday 27th May.
EMF junior races are filling up fast and are expected to reach capacity in the next few weeks. Schools are encouraged to enter team of a minimum of three, where sports equipment prizes and a trophy will be awarded to the winning school. For more information and to enter, visit
www.edinburghmarathon.com.
