Falkirk Half Marathon | New Race in Scotland

As a professional sports nutritionist, someone who enjoys running half marathons and a resident of Falkirk, the news of a Falkirk Half Marathon has got me very excited!

The running calendar is an exciting thing for runners, many of who want to experience new races and locations. This year (2022) is no different and there is a brand new half marathon starting in Scotland at the end of the year, which is very exciting. The 20th of November 2022 will see the inaugural Falkirk Half Marathon which is sure to be a huge success, given the many tourist attractions that can be found in the town and are also part of the route itself. I am going to be doing a lot of video content related to the Falkirk Half Marathon, so make sure you check out my YouTube channel and Facebook page to keep up to date with it all. I will be looking at the route itself as well as things like the locations of the hydration stations, fan zones, top places to eat before/after the race as well as a lot of half marathon specific nutrition advice and tips.

Check out my practical demonstration and explanation on how to pace your runs

Starting at the Falkirk Football stadium, the route then continues up to Callendar park, which is also the setting for the Falkirk parkrun when you will see Callendar House. Renovated in 1877 following a 600 year history which included hosting the likes of Mary, Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, Bonnie Prince Charlie and even Queen Victoria. Today, it is home to a museum and a cafe which is a particular favourite of mine following the Falkirk parkrun.

The run will then make its way out of the park and onto the Union Canal and along to the famous, Falkirk Wheel. The worlds only rotating boat lift of it’s kind. Construction started on the wheel in 1998 and it was opened by Her Majesty, The Queen in 2002, the Falkirk Wheel stands at an impressive 35m tall (about 8 double decked buses), contains over 15,000 bolts and each of the 2 gondolas of the wheel can hold 500,000 litres of water. The purpose of the Falkirk Wheel is to link the Union Canal which goes to Edinburgh in the opposite direction, to the Forth and Clyde canal which goes to Glasgow in the other direction. The rotation of the wheel only uses 1.5kWh of energy to turn, which is the same as boiling 8 household kettles.

When you leave the Falkirk Wheel, you will link up to the Forth and Clyde canal, where you will run past the new Rosebank whisky distillery, which at the time of writing, is still under construction but is due for completion around the end of the summer, so all going well it will be up and running by race day. There is also a lot of history connected to the Rosebank distillery, and is definitely an exciting one for any whisky fans running the race. Whisky production at Rosebank has been recorded to be as far back as 1798. The distillery was founded in 1840 and by 1864 is had been expanded and also took over and merged with the former Camelon distillery on the opposite bank of the canal. It survived mass closures in the 1980’s and remained a part of Falkirk right up until the early 1990’s when it sadly closed down. Unfortunately the site of the distillery was broken into in 2008 and the stills and mash tun were stolen, however much of the building still remains. In 2017, distiller Ian Macleod, who owns Tamdhu and Glengoyne distilleries, bought the site and has been renovating it to be opened this year where it is planned to have a visitor centre and cafe.

As we pass the distillery and continue on the Forth and Clyde canal, you will eventually reach the world famous Kelpies and the Helix Park. The Kelpies are two 30m high horse heads which originate from Scottish folklore and were modelled on real-life horses called Duke and Baron. Kelpies are said to be shape shifting water spirits that most often appeared as horses but could also take human form and would drag people into the water to drown them. The Falkirk Kelpies were opened in 2014 following the opening of the Helix Park the previous year and attract thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. The Helix Park is an ecopark which has transformed around 350 hectares of land into a really nice greenspace with a lagoon, man made stone beach and linking 16 local communities with an extensive path network of over 27km. – I would recommend visiting and running/cycling on some of these paths in the summer time.

Finally, the last stretch of the race, is a quick run from the Helix back to the Falkirk Football stadium where it all began.