Great Manchester Run
Encyclopedia
The Bupa Great Manchester Run is an annual 10 kilometre run through the streets in Manchester city centre
, which was established in 2003. Usually held in mid-May, it is among the largest and most prestigious mass participation runs in the United Kingdom
. It is part of the Great Run
series of road races
in the UK and is sponsored by Bupa
.
won the women's event while Kenyan Micah Kogo
won the men's, beating the UK all-comers' record by four seconds with a finishing time of 27:25 minutes. Celebrity participants included Kelly Holmes
, Amir Khan
and members of the cast of Coronation Street
.
The following year saw almost 25,000 runners complete the course. Pavey successfully defended her title at the event while Rose Cheruiyot
and Bezunesh Bekele
took second and third place respectively. Austria
n Günther Weidlinger
took the title in the men's race. Unusual for a distance dominated by African runners, the top three finishers in the men's race (which also included Ukrainian
Serhiy Lebid and Sweden
's Mustafa Mohamed
) were all European competitors.
Previous 10 km winner Haile Gebrselassie
stated that he wanted to regain his UK All-Comers' record, which was broken by Micah Kogo's event winning run in 2007. Despite a strong first half of the race, Gebrselassie failed to break the record after he was impeded by wet and windy conditions. Vivian Cheruiyot
won the women's race in 32:01 minutes but conditions also slowed her time, much to her dissatisfaction. Brian Alldis and Shelly Woods
won their respective men's and women's wheelchair races.
The addition of The Great City Games brought much attention to the Great Run event. Comprising a number of 150 metres races to be run on the streets near Manchester's Deansgate
, Olympic Champions Usain Bolt
and Christine Ohuruogu
accepted invitations to compete. Other competitors included Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Ivory Williams
, British Olympians Marlon Devonish
and Donna Fraser
, and a number of other British and Jamaican athletes. Bolt suffered minor leg injuries after crashing his car near Kingston, Jamaica
, but after cancelling a track meet and resuming training he stated that he would be fit to compete. Bolt completed the distance in a world best time of 14.35 seconds while Ferguson-McKenzie won the women's race in 16.54 seconds.
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
, which was established in 2003. Usually held in mid-May, it is among the largest and most prestigious mass participation runs in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is part of the Great Run
Great Run
The Great Run is a series of road running events around the United Kingdom, which includes the Great North Run. The Great Run is a part of the NOVA international sporting group, which was launched by retired athlete Brendan Foster...
series of road races
Road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...
in the UK and is sponsored by Bupa
Bupa
Bupa is a large British healthcare organisation, with bases on three continents and more than ten million customers in over 200 countries. It is a private healthcare company, in direct contrast to the UK's National Health Services, which are tax-funded healthcare systems and do not require private...
.
2007–2008
The 2007 race had an estimated 28,000 participants. Briton Jo PaveyJo Pavey
Joanne Pavey is a track and field athlete, competing internationally for Great Britain. She competes mainly in the 5000 metres distance but also on 1500 metres, 3000 metres and 10,000 metres events, and road racing. In 2006 she won silver in the 5000 m in the Commonwealth Games...
won the women's event while Kenyan Micah Kogo
Micah Kogo
Micah Kemboi Kogo is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres. He is the former world record holder in the 10 kilometres road race event with a time of 27:01, which he lost to countryman Leonard Komon on September 27, 2010...
won the men's, beating the UK all-comers' record by four seconds with a finishing time of 27:25 minutes. Celebrity participants included Kelly Holmes
Kelly Holmes
Dame Kelly Holmes, DBE, MBE is a retired British middle distance athlete. She specialised in the 800 metres and 1500 metres events and won a gold medal for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens...
, Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....
and members of the cast of Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
.
The following year saw almost 25,000 runners complete the course. Pavey successfully defended her title at the event while Rose Cheruiyot
Rose Cheruiyot
Rose Jelagat Cheruiyot is a runner from Kenya.She is married to Ismael Kirui. The couple completed an unusual double when they both won their senior races at the Belfast International Cross Country in 1995....
and Bezunesh Bekele
Bezunesh Bekele
Bezunesh Bekele is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specializes in cross-country running and marathons.She was born in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa...
took second and third place respectively. Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Günther Weidlinger
Günther Weidlinger
Günther Weidlinger is an Austrian long-distance runner who is a former 3000 metres steeplechase specialist but now competes in the marathon....
took the title in the men's race. Unusual for a distance dominated by African runners, the top three finishers in the men's race (which also included Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Serhiy Lebid and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
's Mustafa Mohamed
Mustafa Mohamed
Mustafa Hassan Mohamed is a Somali-Swedish long-distance runner who mainly competes in the 3000 meter steeplechase.-Biography:Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Mohamed moved to Sweden at the age of 11...
) were all European competitors.
2009 and Great City Games
The race was upgraded to IAAF Gold Label Road Race status and the 2009 edition was expanded to include the Great City Games. Around 33,000 runners signed up for the 10 kilometres race and both events were contested on 17 May.Previous 10 km winner Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassie is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon...
stated that he wanted to regain his UK All-Comers' record, which was broken by Micah Kogo's event winning run in 2007. Despite a strong first half of the race, Gebrselassie failed to break the record after he was impeded by wet and windy conditions. Vivian Cheruiyot
Vivian Cheruiyot
Vivian Cheruiyot is an athlete from Kenya who specialises in long distance running. She represented Kenya at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics...
won the women's race in 32:01 minutes but conditions also slowed her time, much to her dissatisfaction. Brian Alldis and Shelly Woods
Shelly Woods
Shelly Woods is an elite British Paralympic athlete from the suburb of Layton in Blackpool, Lancashire.Shelly started using a wheelchair at the age of 11 after a heavy fall which injured her spinal cord...
won their respective men's and women's wheelchair races.
The addition of The Great City Games brought much attention to the Great Run event. Comprising a number of 150 metres races to be run on the streets near Manchester's Deansgate
Deansgate
Deansgate is a main road through the city centre of Manchester, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile long....
, Olympic Champions Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
and Christine Ohuruogu
Christine Ohuruogu
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu MBE is an English athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres; the event for which she is the current Olympic and former World and Commonwealth Champion...
accepted invitations to compete. Other competitors included Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Ivory Williams
Ivory Williams
Ivory Williams is an American sprint athlete who specialises in the 100 meters.Born in Jefferson County, Texas, Williams competed at the 2002 United States Junior Championships, taking bronze in the 200 meters and finishing in fourth place in the 100 m. His first major junior tournament was...
, British Olympians Marlon Devonish
Marlon Devonish
Marlon Ronald Devonish, MBE is an English sprint athlete.He is a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers athletics club and is coached by Tony Lester. Early in his career he was successful at both 100 and 200 metre distances, winning English Schools and European Junior titles at both, but in recent...
and Donna Fraser
Donna Fraser
Donna Karen Fraser in Thornton Heath, Croydon is an English athlete who mainly competed in the 200 and 400 metres.-Career:...
, and a number of other British and Jamaican athletes. Bolt suffered minor leg injuries after crashing his car near Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, but after cancelling a track meet and resuming training he stated that he would be fit to compete. Bolt completed the distance in a world best time of 14.35 seconds while Ferguson-McKenzie won the women's race in 16.54 seconds.
Past winners
Key:| Edition | Year | Men's winner | Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... ) |
Women's winner | Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2003 | 28:48 | 31:50 | ||
| 2nd | 2004 | 27:54 | 32:12 | ||
| 3rd | 2005 | 27:25 | 31:28 | ||
| 4th | 2006 | 27:36 | 31:07 | ||
| 5th | 2007 | 27:24 | 31:41 | ||
| 6th | 2008 | 28:10 | 31:58 | ||
| 7th | 2009 | 27:39 | 32:01 | ||
| 8th | 2010 | 28:02 | 31:19 | ||
| 9th | 2011 | 28:10 | 31:45 |