THE first of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival races has begun.

Amidst the grey skies was a see of colour as children dressed in all manner of reds, blues, oranges and greens lined up ready for the off.

In Pictures: the first day of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival >>>

But the sun soon burst through seeing the juniors run their little hearts out from Bournemouth pier towards Boscombe along the promenade and back again fo the 1.5k race.

They and the runners for the Supersonic 10k – roughly 2,500 people - finished their stints at the Lower Gardens.

Amelia Stewart, seven, was joined by Verwood First School mates Bella Mason, also seven, and her brother Harry, eight. It was the first time Amelia had run an event but said she'd been training hard and was looking forward to her celebratory lunch afterwards.

Bella said: "Dad said if we ran it in 10 minutes we get £10!"

Leo Riggs, eight, from The Epiphany School, thinks he came fifth.  "It was quite hard," he said. "At the start I had a bad tummy ache but I just ran."

This evening will see 1,200 eager runners aged 11 and older set off in the Speed of Light 5k. Spectators will be able to spot them by the unique LED armbands they’ll be wearing.

Then tomorrow sees the adults gather for the much longer-paced events of the weekend.

More than 3,000 people are signed up to take part in the marathon, which starts at 10am from Kings Park Drive, with 4,500 running the half marathon.

Among those taking part is Adam Eason from Bournemouth who is set to run all four races in aid of British Adoption and Fostering and Alice Burch, a mum from the New Forest, who is attempting run 60 marathons in 60 days.

Bournemouth hero Steve Way, who came 10th in the Commonwealth Games marathon last year, will also be taking part today among the thousands of others.