Loch Ness Marathon Promises $75K to Runners With Undeniable Monster Proof

Gabe Zaldivar
by Gabe Zaldivar
Last updated: 10:00 AM ET, Thu April 16, 2015

Image via Baxters Loch Ness Marathon

Baxters Loch Ness Marathon officials are eager to give you £50,000, or roughly $75,000. All you have to do is run a marathon and provide photographic evidence of a mythical beast from the local depths below.

As Edward Furlong awkwardly declared in "Terminator 2," "Easy Money!"

The event's official website (h/t Mashable) has more information on what has to be the most ingenious way a marathon has infused local legend into its confines.

The media release states, "Runners entering the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon could win £50,000 - if Nessie photobombs their race day selfie."

In all fairness, this would be the hardest $75,000 ever made. Not only do you have to run a marathon, which continues to be the worst way to get from Point A to Point B considering cars were invented, you have to also prove the existence of the famously timid Loch Ness Monster.

We eagerly await the organizers of Tough Mudder to give out a cool $100,000 for completing its course and taking a full range of glamour shots with Bigfoot.

But snapping off a picture of Nessie, a monster paparazzi have been after for years, is not the point. According to one video of the event from 2011, this marathon is all about fun and frivolity:

The release states that about 9,000 runners will trek north to compete in the marathon on Sept. 27 of this year, potentially bringing their selfie-taking smartphones along for the ride.

You never know; one throwaway shot could be worth thousands as well as historic fame.

Race director Malcolm Sutherland spoke to the impetus behind the initiative, via the press release: "We realised there was a potential for our runners to help prove once and for all whether there really is a pre-historic monster living in the loch. With so many selfies being taken on race day, surely if she is out there someone will be able to get one with her in the background."

If you fail at capturing a Nessie-bomb, you are still getting something truly wonderful. Sutherland continues, "The legend and mystery of the monster, along with the absolutely breath-taking scenery of Loch Ness, is one of the main reasons why people enter the event and travel from all over the world to take part."

Now if you run the race and snap off the famed but rarely seen monster you are encouraged to hand over the evidence, which will be judged and examined by experts.

Or, because it's 2015, you can just hashtag that Instagram or Twitter image with #nessieselfie.

Be advised that only official plesiosaurs that call the local loch home and happen to go by the name Nessie will be accepted.


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