Sport
A very wholesome record was seemingly smashed by a group of runners at the Manchester Half
This caterpillar was hungry for PBs and making history.
It’s been a few days since the 2025 Manchester Half, and news of personal bests and records being matched/broken continues to flood in, but nothing quite beats the fastest caterpillar EVER getting themselves in the Guinness book.
Yes, we did say caterpillar.
In case you have no idea what we’re talking about (it’s pretty much what it says on the tin), a caterpillar refers to when multiple runners stick themselves in a daft bit of fancy dress and race in a line while joined together in a suit that looks like, well, you get the gist…
Fun and wholesome in itself, right? Indeed, better still, though, it appears as though this particular group of fundraisers not only completed this year’s Manchester Half-marathon with the added challenge of running behind one another in a caterpillar outfit, but have just smashed the Guinness World Record.
As you can see, the four top blokes – Matthew Athersmith, Eddie Evans, Andrew Cairns and Jimmy Craig – didn’t just get the 13.1-mile feat completed quickly; they were absolutely RAPID.
The 2025 MCR Half saw plenty of people breaching the 90-minute mark or going even faster, but we were not expecting to see the familiar caterpillar fancy dress sight finishing in 1:14:08.
Utterly ridiculous, boys.
Other notable bits of history made, besides the largest ever crowd of 28k racers and more than £1.6 million raised for different charities, included runner Sophie Godley smashing the women’s record for the fastest time while carrying (*checks notes*) 13 golf clubs. Silly and inspiring – like it.
Although they’re still waiting for full confirmation from the official Guinness World Records organisation, the Manchester Half media team seemingly verified that they beat the previous caterpillar half-marathon record by nearly 15 whole minutes.
Dubbing themselves ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, the group of mates from Skipton in North Yorkshire ran in memory of one of Matthew’s friends, Darren, who sadly died back in 2022.
Speaking to the BBC following the remarkable achievement, Matt said: “Darren was so loved by everyone; we just didn’t know what was going on beneath the surface.”
Applauding the “unbelievable” and incredibly uplifting atmosphere on the day, they were one of many participants who added on extra caveats to the already impressive fitness and fundraising challenge.
It was nevertheless an emotional day for all of them. For instance, one quarter of the caterpillar, Jimmy, also had a heavily pregnant wife waiting at home that he had to race back to.
Generating money for male mental health organisation and suicide prevention charity, Andy’s Man Club (AMC), which has continued to grow year on year, they went on to add: “It’s OK to talk, and people shouldn’t suffer in silence. We all would have tried to help.”
Andy’s Man Club outposts are popping up all over the place, including many here in Greater Manchester, so for anyone struggling, please know that you are NOT alone and can always speak to someone. If you’re interested in giving AMC a go, you can find your nearest support group HERE.
Last but not least, for those of you local to the region who are ready to reward yourselves now that the big runs are all said and done, look no further.
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Featured Images — Manchester Half (supplied)/Andy’s Man Club
Sport
Academy graduate Oscar Bobb is leaving Manchester City on a permanent transfer
Danny Jones
Manchester City youth academy graduate Oscar Bobb is leaving the club after sealing a move to Fulham FC.
Despite plenty of loan interest throughout the January transfer window, the Man City attacker has secured a switch to the in-form West London team on a permanent basis.
Bobb looked increasingly likely to leave in some capacity following the arrival of another winger in the form of instant hit, Antoine Semenyo, but it now looks as though his departure is all but confirmed, bar an imminent official announcement.
As reported by Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, the agreement has now been reached between the two clubs pending a full medical today (Thursday, 29 January).
According to Romano, Fulham will pay Man City approximately £27 million for Bobb’s services, who becomes the latest addition in what has already been a fairly busy period of recruitment.
He goes on to add that “City also mantain [a] 20% sell-on clause, matching rights and future control on the player based on his decision.”
There is no suggestion of a buy-back clause at this time, but given his age and having already made a fair few appearances for Pep Guardiola‘s first team, it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility to see him return to the club one day.
Bobb also arrives at Craven Cottage following the exit of multiple wingers and offensive options, including Adama Traore, ex-Man United product Andreas Pereira and Arsenal youngster, Reiss Nelson, whose loan deal has expired and has signed another temporary deal at local rivals, Brentford.
A similar scenario played out with James Trafford at the start of this season, though it now looks as though the young keeper could once again leave before the end of the month. Many City supporters understandably have some mixed feelings about both situations.
The young Norwegian winger joined the Etihad Campus back in 2023 and went on to contribute a handful of goals and assists, despite limited appearances and some very unfortunate injury issues.
Only seven months ago, his soon-to-be former parent club released a short video charting his return from the sidelines after fracturing his leg – a setback which kept him out for roughly five months.
Plenty of fans have quickly placed him in the so-called ‘what if?’ category of players, and given that he’s still just 22 years old and has already impressed on a number of ocassions for such a big club, we wouldn’t be surprised if he goes on to have a very exciting career.
Can you see the Blues bringing in or letting anyone else go before deadline day?
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Featured Images — pantkiewicz (via Flickr)/El Loko (via WikiCommons)/Man City (via YouTube)
Sport
Tyson Fury has officially revealed his comeback fight after coming out of ‘retirement’ once again
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury has officially announced the opponent for his comeback fight after yet again returning to professional boxing.
Fury supposedly ‘retired’ for seemingly the umpteenth time last January following his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk the month prior, and some even believed it might have actually been his final outing.
Nevertheless, ‘The Gypsy King’ said he was coming out of retirement once more earlier this year, and now his next match-up has been confirmed.
Revealing the other contender as Aslanbek Makhmudo, the fight will be aired live on Netflix only.
Partnered exclusively with boxing magazine, Ring, the bout between Fury and Makhmudo is the latest big fight night to be picked up by the streaming giants.
The most recent example was, obviously, Anthony Joshua’s brutal knockout of influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul this past December.
Makhmudo, just a year younger than his opposite number, is a fellow experienced heavyweight based mainly out of Canada with a decent pedigree of his own.
The Russian, simply known as ‘The Lion’, has a record of 21 wins – more than half of those coming by KO.
With that in mind, he presents a potentially exciting prospect for the famous Manchester fighter, who hasn’t won a proper competitive fight since the defence of his WBC belt against Derek Chisora in December 2022.
Similarly, this should at least see two very well-seasoned pros going head to head.
He did fight MMA veteran Francis Ngannou in a one-off exhibition, but there was no title or anything tangible on the line.
In fact, even Fury himself admitted it was a “below par” showing.
Many fight fans would argue that there haven’t been enough proper big heavyweight dates since Fury vs Usyk, and even then, we are still yet to get a date for the all-but fully confirmed final fight of the trilogy.
Fury himself did state that the conclusion of their clash is scheduled for this April, but nothing official has been set in stone by any promotion or venue and the new date means it’s even less likely to be any time soon; meanwhile, plenty are still hoping for AJ vs Fury.
The 37-year-old will take on Makhmudo on Saturday, 11 April, and you can bet the world will be watching.
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Featured Images — FurociTV (via YouTube)/Netflix/Ring Magazine/@Mike_DiDomizio(via X)
