Next, runners go down the hill to the River Spey, through a loop around Cragganmore, and then along the Spey valley following the river, through fields and trees. This stage is quiet, scenic, and thankfully quite easy to run. The next distillery is Tamdhu, which marks the halfway point and is where the half marathon starts. There is a short loop up the hill to Cardhu, which offers a superb view back down to the valley, and then the route goes along the valley through Carron to Aberlour, where the 10km race starts. Here the terrain is less wild but no less pretty, as runners hug the Spey in full flow.

When runners eventually reach Craigellachie, they turn right and go up the Fiddich valley — a gradual but perhaps unwelcome ascent, all the way up to Glenfiddich. From the hilltop they get the grand finale, running through Balvenie (which is usually closed to the public) and finishing right next door at the Glenfiddich Distillery.

Passing such famous distilleries, one imagines there is some temptation for the whisky-loving runner to have a nip along the way. This crossed the founders’ minds, too.

“At the beginning we thought we were creating a race for whisky nuts, a sort of Marathon des Châteaux du Médoc,” remembers King, invoking the famous race among the fields north of Bordeaux where participants can sample up to 20 different wines from the vineyards they pass through, along with oysters, pasta, and steak. King and Dunderdale took the idea to the distilleries along the route and pitched the idea that runners could stop in front of the distillery and have a dram. “All the distilleries immediately said, ‘No way!’,” chuckled King. “It has ended up being a race for runners, some who like whisky.”

It was decided that whisky at the end was more appropriate, and now each finisher receives a special prize: miniatures from some of the distilleries they ran past plus one guest whisky, with eight bottles for the marathon finishers, four for the half marathon, and three minis for the 10km and the relay.

For some, participating once is enough, but many return year after year. Local Eric Grant is one of those who has fallen for its charm, running every year since the first, and even two weeks after undergoing shoulder surgery in 2019, arm still in a sling. “The friendship and camaraderie make it even more special. These lads put in so much work throughout the year to make sure it all goes smoothly on the day, and I take my hat off to them as they have it down to such a fine art,” he says. 

The race is not just for canny locals, though, with 30 per cent of the runners coming from abroad. Among them is Måns Kämpe from Stockholm, a 57-year-old runner and self-confessed single malt enthusiast. Having visited more than 40 distilleries, there was one thing left for him to do. “When I heard about the Dramathon it instantly sounded like an absolute must-do race for me. I registered without hesitation, and after finishing the first time I knew I was going to come back,” he explains. “It is a challenging race, small, enthusiastic, and friendly, through stunning scenery, very well organised and with some fantastic people around, both runners and volunteers.”

Many races have sponsors and here is no different, yet with the Dramathon the sponsors are the distilleries themselves. Glenfarclas has supported the races from the start; King recalls that the distillery was so supportive it only took a 20-minute meeting to agree the basics.

Deborah Stewart joined Glenfarclas shortly after the first race and has been managing the relationship ever since. “It is just so different to the usual things we get involved with. That is what appealed to us,” she says. “You have a mix of serious runners, and then the whisky fans who are happy to stop and take photos of all the distilleries along the route — we love that too. The atmosphere at the start with us, and the end at Glenfiddich is very special.”

A runner herself, Stewart has completed the half marathon several times but is yet to steel herself for the Full Dram — perhaps this year.

It has not all been plain running for the team. In 2020 Covid-19 scuppered the event, and it affected 2021 as well, but worse was to come — something which nearly ended the Dramathon and tested the loyalty it has built up with the running community to its limits.

With everything on site and paid for, and all the participants having travelled to Speyside, the organisers had to cancel with just hours to go before the start. Storm Babet had been hovering over the area for days, but late evening the night before the race the team received catastrophic news: the Spey was likely to burst its banks, endangering runners and crew. They were told the race could not go ahead.

“It felt like we were betraying people, and we knew we were disappointing people. It was an emotional rollercoaster,” recalls King. He and the team wanted to hide away but had to face the crowds, who had to return their timing chips on what would have been race day. King braced himself for the worst. He put out the call on social media: “Come back with the chips and have a dram with us.” As 7am came, the trepidation reaching fever pitch, they opened the doors to the hall and for the next six hours it was filled with people dressed to run with no race to go to. But it wasn’t the nightmare King had feared. “The atmosphere was incredible. People were so kind, so understanding,” he says. “If everyone asked for a refund, that would have been the end of the Dramathon.” In the end many deferred to the 2024 race and 400 even waived their fee to ensure its future. It survived and will return in October this year, all thanks to the support of the community.

Reflecting on the Dramathon’s legacy, King says, “It took on a life of its own… it sounds a bit corny, but we’ve become sort of custodians of something. It has an identity of its own.”

Despite its growing fame the organisers deliberately limit numbers to protect the pathways and minimise disturbance for the community, a balance they feel it important to keep.

The event is recognised as a great driver of revenue to the community and to charity. This includes locally based children’s cancer charity Logan’s Fund; it is gifted free places for its runners, and a bottle of whisky donated by Whisky Auctioneer is auctioned off to raise funds. Runners have the option to support the planting of a tree rather than buy a race t-shirt; these trees are planted on the Ballindalloch Estate.

More information can be found at www.thedramathon.com. Good luck to those inspired to run, and, as the slogan goes, “Dinna bottle it.”