On your marks: The Race Within a Race is on
race is on to find the fastest runners in the Stockport Express area.
The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run 10k returns to the city on Sunday, May 28, bringing with it the addition of a half marathon.
First staged in 2003, it has rapidly become one of the most popular running events in the world.
The Stockport Express is delighted to have teamed up with event organisers The Great Run Company to create a Race Within A Race for entrants living in our newspaper catchment area, with a prize for our first local male and female finisher and a full set of our local runners’ results printed in the paper following the event.
Shown live on the BBC, the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2017 and you can take your place on the start line to battle for local bragging rights.
There will be trophies for the first male and female finishers in the Stockport Express catchment area for the 10k, with winners receiving a free entry for 2018.
Many world-class athletes such as Haile Gebrselassie, Jo Pavey, Kenenisa Bekele and Sonia O’Sullivan have competed alongside the thousands of runners either raising millions of pounds for charity or completing a personal challenge.
The 10k saw its 300,000th runner cross the finishing line in 2016.
And the coming event is set to be bigger than ever with the all-new half marathon sitting alongside Europe’s biggest 10k.
Sunday, May 28, will also see the hugelypopular Simplyhealth Junior and Mini Great Manchester Runs for runners aged between three and 15, taking place in the city centre.
Some huge names have acted as honorary starters of the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run over the years, with Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Alex Ferguson, Denis Law, Andrew Flintoff, Liz Dawn, Russell Watson and Ricky Hatton firing the starting pistol, along with Fabrice Muamba, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Roy Hodgson, Denise Welch, Haile Gebrselassie, Gordon Burns, Andrew Cole and Mike Summerbee over its 15-year history.
The event has raised millions for charities including the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and The Christie, who have thousands of runners taking part in the run each year.
Following research carried out after the 2016 event it was reported a massive £8.9 million had been raised in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run alone.
We’ll be publishing further details of the ‘Race within a Race’ but in the meantime if you’d like to be one of the thousands on the start line on Sunday, May 28, visitgreatrun.org/ manchester.