Moonwalkers told to buy alarms to be safe in training

THOUSANDS of women taking part in the charity Moonwalk are being urged to buy personal attack alarms by the event's organisers.

The move comes after nursing student Eloise Roberts was attacked and robbed in the Meadows last year while watching the start of the marathon walk.

The alarms are for sale on the Moonwalk website, with charity bosses recommending walkers use them to stay safe as they train for the night-time event.

The Moonwalk will see 12,000 bra-clad women – plus a handful of men – march 26 miles through the city on June 14.

Last year, 20-year-old Ms Roberts was punched in the stomach by two thieves high on drugs, just minutes after watching the Moonwalkers set off.

Nina Barough, who founded the Walk the Walk breast cancer charity behind the Moonwalk, today said that although no participants had ever been attacked during the race, organisers were keen to ensure that walkers were given the best safety equipment possible.

She added: "We haven't put them on sale to help walkers during the actual event, as we have lots of stewards and there will be thousands of people taking part.

"Rather, we were more concerned about people who are going out at night and training for the event. For people in big cities, it is always a risk to go out on your own to train, so we want to give them the chance to be as safe as possible.

"We have produced a guide over the past few years offering advice to Moonwalk participants on how to stay safe, but this will be the first year we've offered alarms through our website.

"We take the safety of our walkers very seriously and have tested the market and, in our opinion, these are the best personal alarms that we have found.

"Hopefully no-one will need to use them but they are a sensible piece of kit to carry around."

During the attack last year Ms Roberts, a first-year student at Napier University, was grabbed from behind and ordered to hand over her mobile phone before being punched in the stomach. Prior to the incident, she had been on a night out with friends at the Doctors pub in nearby Forrest Road and had watched the start of the walk.

Moonwalk organisers also revealed today that this year's event is now full up.

A spokeswoman said: "We're absolutely delighted. We will have an extra 2000 participants this year, so to be filled up already is just fantastic.

"The Moonwalk has been growing in popularity and size over the past three years, so hopefully it will continue to flourish. We expect this year's event to be a great success.

More than £2 million was raised by participants in Edinburgh last year. Walk the Walk hopes this year's walk will raise £3m.

• www.walkthewalk.org