While the runners will obviously be centre stage when the Gloucester Marathon gets under way on Sunday 6th August, this year’s event is not solely about the competitors.

That’s according to race organiser Andrea Maxted-Jones who says the event is a chance to showcase all things good about the city of Gloucester.

“It’s nice to get Gloucester on the sporting map for something other than rugby,” said Andrea. “Gloucester was one of the few cities in this country that didn’t have a marathon and events like this can bring the community together.”

The 26.2-mile route will start and finish in Gloucester Quays and Andrea said a lot of thought had gone into planning the route.

It is the second year that she and her husband Andy, who run TriMax Events together, have organised the race. This year the event incorporates a half marathon for the first time which also starts at the Quays and finishes there as well.

“Gloucester is an up and coming city with the Quays and the Docks area,” said Andrea. “We wanted people coming into the city to see these exciting parts of Gloucester. The marathon route takes the runners past other landmarks in the city – Kingsholm and the cathedral – before going out in the beautiful Cotswolds countryside towards Tewkesbury.”

The crowds, as always, will have a big part to play in the event’s success.

“Family and friends always turn out to support the runners because it’s a big achievement to run a marathon,” said Andrea. “Also people along the route will hopefully support the runners.

“Last year it was about 21 degrees which is quite hot for the runners and the villagers in Sandhurst were cooling them down with hosepipes as they went through!”

This year’s two races have attracted around 1,500 runners and both events will start at 8am.

Last year’ marathon attracted almost 1,000 runners and was won by Steven Way, from Hampshire, in a time of two hours, 29 minutes and 45 seconds.