Edinburgh Marathon 2024 Runs Out Of Medals

Many runners were left disappointed when they crossed the finish line of the 2024 Edinburgh Marathon and Half Marathon only to discover that they would not be getting a medal this year. And the medal wasn’t the only thing runner took to the internet to complain about.

Over 35,000 runners took part in events over the Edinburgh Marathon Festival weekend, and together raised over £6 million for charity, but many have shared stories of their bad experience at this year’s event. 

Lots of runners in both the marathon and half-marathon were not handed a medal as they finished because organisers ran out of medals. It’s unclear why this is. 

On Instagram, Edinburgh Marathon responded: “We know that there were a small number of finishers for whom we did not have a medal. We are so sorry about this. Your achievement merits being presented with your amazing medal straight away, and we were not able to do this.”

In an email sent to runners after the event, organisers promised that more medals have been ordered and runners who weren’t given a medal should get theirs by July. 

Runners took to social media to share their feelings. 

“It’s absolutely unforgivable not to order enough, and to take away that finish line moment away from someone who has trained so hard,” wrote one runner. “And it will disproportionately affect slower runners, many of whom will be running a marathon as a one time thing.”

“After 6 hours in the rain to not have a medal was devastating,” wrote another.

Another explained how her daughter has just completed the marathon after months of training. “I find it absolutely disgraceful that you ran out of medals. You knew how many competitors there were. She was heartbroken she didn’t get a medal. Yes, she can fill in a form, but you can’t recreate a photo capturing the sheer joy of completing a marathon. Shame on you!!”

Unfortunately the complaints at this year’s race came from more than just those who missed out on getting their medals, and it was all made worse by wet weather on race day.

Others talked about the ‘shambolic’ experiences, especially in the finish area, where there was a lack of foil blankets, not enough food and drink, items missing from the goody bags, not enough t-shirts in certain sizes, a muddy course which wasn’t protected from the rain, a bottleneck of people trying to get to their bags which they then discovered had been left out in the rain, and then they had a long, wet walk and wait to get a bus from the finish in Musselburgh back to the centre of the city. 

One runner wrote: “Won’t be taking part in EMF again, love to all of the volunteers aside it was a really shambolic experience from start to finish.” 

Image from EMF Facebook