The 2023 Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness was a landmark year for the heartwarming charity run as this year local runners raised more than £25,000 for Greater Manchester’s homeless community. Simply incredible stuff.
In what was just the fifth edition of the fundraising event, runners from all over the region and many others travelling into the city centre from across the UK once again put the hard yards in to raise money for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity (GMMC) and the ‘A Bed Every Night‘ scheme.
Having comfortably smashed their biggest year to date, when taking into account fundraising matches, Gift Aid contributions and event t-shirt sales, The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness has now cruised past £24k to raise a whopping total of £25,265 with their most recent relay race last week.
In case you need any more context for this truly staggering total, that means they raised upwards of £1k for every single hour they ran around Manchester city centre and funded the equivalent of approximately 842 crucial beds including food and support for rough sleepers — and they’re still counting.
Recording 40 main relay laps, 1602 cumulative laps by runners and nearly 9,302 kilometres covered in total with virtual laps included, this year’s charity run broke all manner of records.
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With the largest wave which took place at 7pm on Wednesday, 15 November consisting of 230 runners, not to mention the returning runners on the previous lap, at one point there were roughly 400 runners out on the course all raising money for Manchester’s homeless community.
As if 2023’s tally wasn’t already impressive enough, this takes the grand total raised for the GMMC and A Bed Every Night to over £51,000 since 2018, all through simply running their socks off. Unbelievable.
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For instance, one local runner, Martin ‘Marv’ Lucass, ran a mindblowing 160km (100 miles) at the event without a single wink of sleep, stating: “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted but still nothing compared with the thought of being homeless for even 1 night.”
More than 55 running clubs, local businesses and organisations took part, with the likes of 54-year-old Ian Sharpe running a ridiculous 150km on behalf of Chorlton Runners and Andra Risca setting a new female record for the event with 100km to her name. Even The Manc got involved.
Co-founder and Lead Organiser, Thomas Lewis, said: “It has been amazing to see so many clubs and local organisations in Greater Manchester come together and raise such an incredible amount of money for the charities scheme. The money’s going to help make a real difference in the local community.”
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True to their word, the event’s incredible organisers and volunteers for the University of Manchester’s Run Wild MCR club didn’t stop going until noon on Thursday, 16 November, taking turns to lead and tail laps on very little sleep — if any at all.
Every single person who took part should be immensely proud of their achievements and having done their bit for a deeply important cause and, thankfully, the donation page is still live HERE so you can still help make a real difference in a person’s life. Aren’t us Mancs wonderful?
Featured Image — The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness
Sport
Stockport County defender Brad Hills ruled out for the rest of the season
Danny Jones
In a big blow to their promotion push, Stockport County have been hit with a major injury and loss to their first-team squad, as defender Brad Hills has been ruled out for what looks to be the remainder of the season and then some.
Not what Hatters will want to hear with crunch-time in and around the playoffs now well underway.
Having emerged as even more of a starring centre-back this year, following his initial loan spell with the club during the previous campaign, Brad Hills has arguably been one of Stockport’s best and most reliable players in 2025/26 thus far – but not County will have to do without him.
Although the exact severity is yet to be fully revealed, the former Norwich City youth academy graduate is said to have hurt his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Confirming the news on social media, the Greater Manchester side stated: “We regret to inform supporters that Brad Hills sustained an ACL injury in Saturday’s draw at Luton Town that will rule him out for the foreseeable future.
“Our full focus is on supporting Brad throughout his recovery – we know he’ll come back stronger”
For anyone unaware, ACL tears/ruptures are among some of the worst injuries in football, and depending on the extent of the damage, it can take anywhere between six months and a full year to bounce back.
Safe to say, therefore, that supporters have been left gutted by the update, with one commenting, “Awful, awful news”; another simply wrote, “FFS”.
After typing a very long expletive following the show news, fan podcast The Scarf Bergara Wore wrote: “Wishing Bradley Hills a speedy recovery – come back stronger!
Since becoming a permanent signing back in August, he’s earned multiple man-of-the-match awards in blue and white, not to mention contributed to a decent number of clean sheets. He’ll be a big miss in their backline.
While it’s no doubt a big setback as the League One team looks to get promoted into the Championship, the absence could see manager Dave Challinor reshuffle the pack and perhaps even the formation for the remaining fixtures.
One option is Louie Barry, who – depending on the setup – could finally be set for a return to the pitch after he was signed on a third loan deal this past January, but is still continuing his own rehab following a knee operation.
Put it this way, with not many games left, lots of County fans are probably wishing that the pending and potential further changes in the EFL could have come sooner…
Salford RLFC issue statement as head coach Mike Grady departs after less than three months
Danny Jones
Salford Rugby League Football Club have issued an official statement following the departure of head coach Mike Grady, who has left the role after less than three months in the job.
It has been insisted that this is not a sacking, but rather a joint decision to terminate his contract.
Grady, who took up the mantle at the start of this project following the end of the Salford Red Devils era, was only appointed on 5 January.
He had previously been in charge of the Red Devils’ women’s side over the past couple of years, but moved over to hopefully lead this new era forward.
As you can see, the club confirmed in a statement that they and Grady have “mutually agreed to part ways due to changes in his personal circumstances.”
They go on to write: “We are forever indebted to Mike for his unwavering commitment to the club. We want to thank him for all his hard work since taking on the role as Head Coach in very challenging circumstances in December.”
Also sharing a comment from former player turned CEO, Ryan Brierley, he said: “Mike came in as Coach at a time when the club had just come through one of its toughest times with the double impact of relegation and liquidation.
“He was willing to roll up his sleeves and bring stability to the club on the pitch. The fact we were able to field a team against Oldham in January, after only three weeks, speaks volumes about his commitment and determination. To beat Hunslet at home only four weeks later was a fantastic achievement.
“Mike will always be remembered as the person [who] strived and achieved the objective of sending out the first Salford team of this new era. A team running onto the pitch, after so much hard work, gave us all something to cheer about. We also remember how well he successfully guided our women’s team to third and fourth place finishes in the Championship.”
Sharing his own farewell message, he went on to add: “I want to thank Ryan for the opportunity to represent this great club and fan base. What we created at the start of the year was pretty special, and I’m proud to have built that.
“I’m happy to leave the club in a better place than I found it and wish the club all the best for the future.” Salford RLFC have already assured that they are now recruiting for his replacement.
Danny Jones -
21st November 2023 
