ALMOST 30,000 runners took to the streets of Edinburgh for the capital's ninth marathon, the biggest in the UK outside London.

Among the crowd were cousins Sue Pilat and Jackie Thomson, who were running to raise awareness of Papyrus, a UK charity working to prevent young suicides. Jackie’s son Gowan took his own life aged just 21.

The two women had an emotional reunion at the finishing line.

Nearly 15,000 athletes took part in the full marathon, while the half-marathon attracted 6500.

Phil Nicholls, 27, was the first man across the line in a time of two hours 19 mins and 22 secs, exactly a minute ahead of Scottish and British internationalist Martin Williams. Sarah Harris was the first woman past the finishing line.

Another 300 entered the Hairy Haggis four-person team relay, while 10k, 5k, and junior races offered distances for every ability.

The numbers were up around 5000 on last year, and are almost ten times the number that took part in the first Edinburgh Marathon in 2003.

The first-ever International Breakfast Run, which was only for overseas runners and was sponsored by a porridge company, was held over three miles.

Entries for the main event came from as far afield as Mexico, Brazil, Japan and New Zealand, and the events were spread over the weekend for the first time.

A survey commissioned in 2009 revealed the event generated over £3 million for the local economy.