TWO local athletes were painted from head to toe in bronze paint to mark a global award for the Bournemouth Marathon Festival (BMF).

 

The two-day long event, now in its third year, has been given bronze label status by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body for running.

Student Megan Aitchison and volleyball coach Michael Vellutato were painted bronze and photographed at the town’s iconic pier.

They were joined by Bournemouth Mayor Cllr Chris Mayne and BMF event manager Martin Yelling.

Cllr Mayne, who took part in the festival last year, said: “It is a wonderful event which is growing year on year bringing more visitors to our town.”

Poole-based Yelling, former international athlete and husband to Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling said: “It’s a massive honour for the event and for the whole of Bournemouth to receive IAAF Bronze Label Status. This award really puts Bournemouth on the map as one of the world’s premier running venues.

“The first two years of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival have been hugely successful and we are getting ready to make BMF15 bigger and better than ever before. There is still time to enter and with just over eight months to race day, still plenty of time to train and do yourself proud this year.”

Around 10,500 runners took part in last year’s event which saw more than £1million raised for charity.

This year’s BMF which takes place on October 3 to 4, features events to suit runners of all ages and abilities with the Speed of Light 5k, Supersonic 10k and two Junior Races on Saturday, with the marathon and half-marathon races on Sunday.

For more go to run-bmf.com Like BMF on Facebook at facebook.com/BournemouthMarathonFestival or follow BMF on Twitter twitter.com/RunBournemouth