Business gazetteer: Business desk is on the run

MUSCLING IN

GAZETTEER is pleased to report that those members of the business desk brave enough to tackle last weekend's Bupa Great Edinburgh Run have made a full recovery.

Aching muscles and gasps of pain have given way to tales of athletic prowess and talk of bigger challenges to come (ultra-marathon anyone?)

For the record, the biz team's timings over the somewhat undulating 10k route ranged from 47 minutes 23 seconds to a still respectable 52:49.

A feat all the more remarkable given the training and diet regimes adopted by some of the Radcliffe wannabes – we're talking more beer and burgers than energy snacks and early morning warm-ups.

Middle-distance veterans assure us that Sunday's event was near perfect, with the thousands of participants pounding the capital's streets enjoying dry, calm conditions.

Less pleasing was the killer climb through Holyrood Park at the half-way watering stage – a challenge compounded by having to run a gauntlet of blaring music and flying drinks bottles.

So, a wee word of advice to the organisers for next year's race. Stick to the flat and turn down the sound.

FACT OF THE DAY

27

THE number of new co-operatives and co-owned companies set up in Scotland last year, according to figures released by Scottish Enterprise subsidiary Co-operative Development Scotland. Their combined first-year turnover is expected to be more than £2 million.

KILLER QUOTE

"SOME of the outrageous remarks made by senior politicians that have no foundation in truth or a shred of evidence attached to them we find very disappointing. Not only do they dilute what we are trying to do, they undermine everything Scottish business is trying to do."

Neil Hobday, the Scottish project director for Trump International Golf Links.

GOOD DAY

Chewing gum

PAVEMENT cleaners rejoice, non-sticky chewing gum could be on its way. Investors have pumped £10 million into Revolymer, a spin-out company from Bristol University, to help it develops its biodegradable gum. The company hopes to start sales next year.

BAD DAY

European retailers

RETAIL sails in 15 eurozone countries fell by 0.4 per cent in March, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office. Eurostat's report showed that March retail sales also slid across the 27-country EU as a whole, by 0.7 per cent month-on-month.