{"id":57558,"date":"2025-04-28T13:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T13:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/57558\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T13:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T13:32:10","slug":"manchester-and-london-marathons-create-the-uks-largest-day-of-marathon-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/57558\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester and London marathons create the UK\u2019s largest day of marathon running"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the London Marathon tends to take the headlines, it wasn\u2019t the only big-city marathon taking place last weekend. <\/p>\n

Thirty-six thousand runners took place in the Manchester Marathon, cheered on by around 140,000 spectators. The meant that between London and Marathon, 90,000 runners took on the 26.2-mile distance<\/a> \u2013 a UK record.<\/p>\n

At the front of the field, Josh Griffiths took the men\u2019s title in 2:16:56. The women\u2019s race, meanwhile, was won by Tessa McCormick, who crossed the line in 2:34:53. <\/p>\n

\"manchesterPaul Greenwood<\/p>\n

Tessa McCormick and Josh Griffiths took the women\u2019s and men\u2019s titles, respectively <\/p>\n

Other notable participants included Humphrey Ker, executive director of Wrexham FC, who was raising money for the Wrexham Miners Project. Wrexham FC club owners, Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, donated to the cause. <\/p>\n

Harry Newton, 87, was the oldest participant to run the marathon this year, while Charlotte Whistlecroft, 30, took part in full cricket gear \u2013 a tribute to her cricket-loving friend, David, who died of a heart attack last year aged 32. <\/p>\n

\"adidasadidas Manchester Marathon<\/p>\n

Charlotte Whistlecroft ran the 26.2 miles in full cricket gear<\/p>\n

This was the first time ever that Manchester and London marathons took place on the same day. In another first for the Manchester event, the finish line had moved to the city centre, specifically Oxford Road, framed by the striking backdrop of the University of Manchester. <\/p>\n

Highlighting the growing popularity of the event \u2013 and of marathon running in general \u2013 more than 50% of participants were taking on their first marathon. <\/p>\n

Not that Manchester is a race solely for enthusiastic amateurs. England Athletics selected the race for the 2025 English Championships, with more than 70 athletes fighting it out for the top spots. Perhaps the most remarkable performance came from second-placed woman Olivia Tsim, who had given birth only seven months previously. <\/p>\n

\"manchesterPaul Greenwood<\/p>\n

Olivia Tsim finished as second woman, just seven months after giving birth <\/p>\n

While not on the same level as London in terms of fundraising, Manchester did nonetheless raise more than \u00a34 million for charity \u2013 a figure that es expected to rise over the coming days. <\/p>\n

Andrew Smith, CEO of Manchester Marathon organisers A.S.O. UK,<\/strong> said: \u2018Today has been nothing short of spectacular. Manchester has shown once again why it\u2019s one of the best cities to take on a marathon \u2013 welcoming, passionate and full of heart. To see 36,000 people cross the finish line, many for the very first time, on the UK\u2019s biggest-ever day of marathon running, is incredibly special. We\u2019re proud to celebrate this moment with the whole community \u2013 participants, volunteers, charities and supporters \u2013 who made this event so successful.\u2019 <\/p>\n

The Manchester Marathon returns on Sunday 19 April 2026. The ballot opens tomorrow (Tuesday 29 April): manchestermarathon.co.uk<\/a>\u202f <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the London Marathon tends to take the headlines, it wasn\u2019t the only big-city marathon taking place last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,1380,30213,1331,393,4884,1330,2465,30212,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-57558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-content-type-news","10":"tag-contentid-aa476feb-c20d-47fa-892c-e8497dd50746","11":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-locale-gb","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-shorttitle-all-the-highlights-from-the-manchester-marathon","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114415845062051241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}