IT may take five hours to run for some people, but places for this year’s Yorkshire Marathon were snapped up in only ten minutes.

This is great to see and shows that the ‘Y’ has already established itself as an important date in North Yorkshire’s calendar – even more so with 1,000 extra runners taking part this year.

There are good reasons for its popularity. Our marathon is flatter and faster than London, Paris, Chicago and Berlin. It takes participants past some of York’s finest historic sites and along scenic country lanes. No wonder it’s become so popular, so quickly.