THE countdown to this year’s Bournemouth Marathon Festival is now under way – and organisers are hoping it will be bigger and better than ever.

The BMF, now in its third year, takes place on October 3 and 4.

Poole-based Martin Yelling, former international athlete and husband to Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling said: “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 seven months to race day, still plenty of time to train and do yourself proud this year.”

Last year’s event was a record-breaking occasion with around 10,500 runners taking part, six course records broken and more than £0.5million raised for charity.

Earlier this year, the BMF was awarded Bronze label status by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – the world governing body for running – in recognition of the high quality of the event.

The two-day long festival features the spectacular Speed of Light 5k, Supersonic 10k and two Junior Races on the Saturday, with the marathon and half marathon races on Sunday. Martin Yelling added: “There are distances to suit runners of all ages and abilities.

“It is also a brilliant way to raise funds for a charity close to your heart. So, come and be part of something great this October.”

For details including entry details see run-bmf.com Like on Facebook at facebook.com/bournemouthmarathonfestival or follow on Twitter, twitter.com/runbournemouth