Rannoch Marathon

The Rannoch Marathon is a single lap of Loch Rannoch in the heart of Highland Perthshire, one of the most remote and scenic road marathons in Scotland. The route follows the loch's south shore out through Camghouran and the ancient Black Wood of Rannoch, crosses at the western end near Bridge of Gaur, and returns along the north shore through Aulich and Finnart, with the peak of Schiehallion visible across the water for much of the way. Both start and finish are at Weller Poley Park in Kinloch Rannoch, the small village at the loch's eastern tip. The course is run on open roads and described by the organizer as undulating rather than flat, with distance markers every mile and water stations roughly every three miles. The race traces its history to the 1980s, when this same loop around Loch Rannoch served as the course for the Scottish Marathon Championships. After a long dormancy it was revived in 2015 by Run Nation, which now stages it as part of an October race weekend alongside a half marathon and 10K under the Run Scotland banner. Entries are capped at 1,500 runners, chip timing is used throughout, and the minimum age to run the marathon is 17. Runners should expect a cool, often damp Highland autumn morning and a genuinely rural, low-crowd atmosphere far from any city — the appeal here is the loch and the hills, not spectator numbers.