Sport
Great Manchester Run guide for 2026 – route map, waves and start times, travel advice and more
Get race ready, Manchester.
Danny Jones -
27th May 2026 
‘Marathon season’ may be over for some, but not for those taking part in the AJ Bell Great Manchester, which returns this year for its 23rd edition.
The 2026 Great Manchester Run takes place this Sunday, 31 May, and tens of thousands of Mancs and more are set to take on the challenge, be that the fan favourite and super flat 10k, or the equally popular half-marathon.
Whatever distance you’re doing, or even if you’re just turning up to cheer on your mates and loved ones, we’ve put together a list of all the important details ahead of another sell-out event – but places
Here’s everything you need to know…
Great Manchester Run 2026 – all the key info
The GMR course map for 2026
If you’re wondering what the route for this year’s Great Manchester Run is like, it’s largely the same as most other years, no matter which race you’re talking about.
As a brief overview, the 10k course takes you from the start line on Portland Street, towards Old Trafford and the edge of Salford Quays, before heading back into town.
Meanwhile, the half-marathon route covers the same ground, but you also take along the Mancunian Way and over to the Nexen Bridge to Manchester City’s Etihad Campus and then back over the elevated motorway for the two main bits of your elevation.
Best of all, both share that box office finish line on the main Deansgate strip, where you can drink in all the glory; you can see a more in-depth look at both down below.
What are the Great Manchester run waves and start times?
Now, for those of you who are putting the great in Greater Manchester this year, the first thing on the docket for 2026 is the information point opening bright and early, before elite runners and those with visual impairments start assembling from 7:15am.
After that, the warm-up and subsequent waves (which you’ll find on your tour bib along with your participant number and RFID chips) will set off in staggered intervals until just after half past eight.
For anyone who hasn’t yet received their race pack, you can visit the info point, and your access point to the start line will also be signposted according to your corresponding wave colour.
As for those doing the shorter dash, here’s your breakdown:
10k running order (pun intended)
- 7:55 – Elite Wheelchair Athletes Start
- 11:00 – Assembly Opens: Fast Paced, Orange and Green Waves
- 11:30 – Elite Women Start
- 11:32 – Warm Up
- 11:40 – Visually Impaired (VI) Participants Start
- 11:45 – Elite Men, Fast Paced and Orange Wave Start
- 12:05 – Green Wave Start
- 12:25 – Assembly Opens: Purple and Pink Waves
- 12:40 – Warm Up
- 12:50 – Purple Wave Starts
- 13:10 – Pink Wave Starts
AJ Bell’s Junior and Mini children’s races – Great Manchester Run
As always, 2026 will also see the joint junior and mini races for kids, which takes place separately from the main course and hordes of runners on the Sunday.
Getting underway on Saturday, 30 May), mini runners (aged 3-8) race through a 1.6km dash, and junior runners (aged 9-15) will take on a 2.5km challenge.
Supporters are encouraged to come along and experience this joyous spin-off over at the Etihad Campus, with stars from the hit BBC reboot of Gladiators set to join in the party.
If your little ones have speedy feet, keep an eye out for 2027 sign-ups when they go live.
📢 Calling all future running stars!
— Great Run (@Great_Run) January 4, 2026
Super Saturdays are BACK for 2026 🎉🦸
Join the UK’s best kids running series, packed with fundraising, family time and fun at our Junior & Mini events 🙌
Sign up today 👉 #LinkInBio pic.twitter.com/cABdnklxtu
Great MCR Run travel advice, diversions and road closures
Now, naturally, when such a huge event with more than 40,000 runners is set to take over the city, not to mention the 100k+ spectators that are expected to line the streets on the day, it’s always going to have an impact on travel.
Those watching on the sidelines are being urged to use public transport wherever possible, with extra trams being put on throughout the day, and various other arms of the Bee Network (who have a full guide ahead of the event) will be there to get people around the event.
If you do end up driving into the region for the action, we would recommend you use one of Greater Manchester’s multiple park and ride sites and then use one of our many Metrolink services to travel into the city centre itself.
You can also use Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) journey planner online and see a full list of the confirmed road closures down below:
- A5083 Trafford Road: 6.30am – 6pm
- A5083 White City Circle: 6.30am – 6pm
- A58 Bridgewater Way: 6.30am – 6pm
- A58 Chester Road: 6.30am – 6pm
- A5801 Wharfside Way: 5am – 6pm
- Abingdon Street: 6.30am – 4pm
- Alan Turing Way: 7am – 11.30am
- Albion Street: 7.30am – 2.45pm
- Ashton New Road: 8am – 11am
- Ashton Old Road: 7am – 1pm
- Atkinson Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Bloom Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Bootle Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Bridgewater Viaduct: 6.30am – 6pm
- Byrom Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Central Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Chepstow Street: 4am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Chester Road: 6.30am – 6pm
- Chorlton Road: 6.30am – 1pm
- Chorlton Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- City Road East: 7am – 2.45pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Cross Street: 6.30am – 4pm
- Deansgate: 2am – 7pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Dickinson Street: 4am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Elevator Road: 5am – 6pm
- Ellesmere Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Fairfield Street: 6.30am – 1pm
- Garwood Street: 7am – 2.45pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Great Bridgewater Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Great Jackson Street: 7am – 2.45pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Hardman Street: 6.30am – 6pm
- Hulme Hall Road: 6.30am – 6pm
- Jacksons Row: 4am – 6pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Liverpool Road: 6am – 9pm (includes parking restrictions, closed from Saturday 17 May)
- Lloyd Street: 4am – 6pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Major Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Mancunian Way East & West: 6.30am – 1pm
- Manor Street: 6.30am – 1pm
- Medlock Street: 7am – 2.45pm
- Minshul Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Oxford Street: 6.30am – 4pm
- Parker Street: 4am – 4pm
- Peter Street: 4am – 6pm
- Pin Mill Brow: 5.30am – 1pm
- Portland Street: 4am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Princess Street: 6.30am – 4pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Quay Street: 4am – 6pm
- River Street: 7am – 2.45pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Sackville Street: 6.30am – 4pm
- Silver Street: 6.30am – 4pm
- Sir Alex Ferguson Way: 5am – 6pm
- Southmill Street: 4am – 6pm
- St John Street: 4am – 6pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Tonman Street: 6am – 11pm (includes parking restrictions)
- Trafford Road: 6.30am – 6pm
- Trafford Wharf Road: 5am – 6pm
- Victoria Place: 5am – 6pm
- Warren Bruce Road: 5am – 6pm
- Waterside: 5am – 6pm
- Whitworth Street West: 6.30am – 2.45pm (includes parking restrictions)
It’s also worth noting that there will be a number of bus diversions on the day; you can consult the adjusted timetable HERE.
Event village + other pre- and post-race extras
This year’s event village is based on St Peter’s Square and is open to everyone; it’s set to feature a wide range of activities, charities and exhibitors for everyone to enjoy.
From giveaways and competitions in partnership with the AJ Bell ‘Money Matters’ team, as well as Solgar, Mitchum, Liquid I. V. and SiS energy gels (we’re sure enough of you will be more than familiar after the run is all said and done), there’s a lot of different bits and bobs up for grabs.
We don’t know about you, but we’ll be heading straight to the mobile Lucky Saint bar, which will be serving ice-cold, refreshing, alcohol-free beers – they’re going to hit SO different after a run in the sun.
Cheer zones and support hubs: best spots to watch the Great Manchester Run
For those of you set to line the streets and provide your much-needed support on race day, there are some key sections where the atmosphere from the crowd will be injected into the runners.
As well as drummers, local choirs and lots more surprises to keep your energy pumping throughout, there’ll be some big corners to look out for your loved ones.
You can find some of the main supporter hotspots and where they are along the route down below, but we’d personally recommend the roundabout coming heading towards Chester Road, the small grassy mounts and central reservation either side of Cornbrook, and the corner of Deansgate-Castlefield.
Half marathon
- St Peter’s Square – for the start line
- Manchester Piccadilly – 2-mile marker
- Etihad Campus/Velopark – 4/5-mile marker
- Wharfside/Imperial War Museum – 10/11-mile marker
- Cornbrook – 12-mile marker
- Deansgate-Castlefield exchange – for the finish line
10k
- St Peter’s Square – for the start line
- Cornbrook – 2km marker
- Old Trafford – 4km marker
- Wharfside/Imperial War Museum – 6km marker
- Cornbrook – 9km marker
- Deansgate-Castlefield corner – for the finish line
We want this kind of energy all day long, please and thank you:
Famous faces at the Great Manchester Run 2026
Every year, we always get to see a fair few celebs and noteworthy names either taking on the 13.1-mile/21.1k dash, be that out on the start line with the rest of you, teaming up with the official BBC presenting team, or simply helping cheer on in their own way.
This one is no different – familiar faces to look out for include: Traitors stars, Reece Ward, Jessie Roux and Jack Butler, Race Across the World winners, Kush Burman and Joe Diop, siblings Katie and Harrison Devine, Caroline Bridge, along with Emon Choudhury, running in memory of the late Sam Gardiner.
Cast members from Waterloo Road will also be there, such as Jason Merrells (Jack Rimmer),
Maisie Robinson (Portis Weaver), Tillie Amartey (Stace Neville) and Cory McClane (Ashton
Stone); the same goes for Corrie and Emmerdale stars.
Manc music legend Peter Hook will also be returning for his 15th Great Manchester Run on behalf of The Christie charity, with much-loved local couple Gemma Atkinson and Strictly dancer Gorka Marquez also doing once again for the Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary.
We’re also buzzing to see not just big names but local heroes joining Manchester on the start line, too.
Tracking and motivational messages
Before we wrap this thing up, there’s also the matter of how to track runners on the day as they make their way along the course. The easiest way to do this is by downloading the Great Run app, where you can simply enter runners’ names and race numbers to follow along. You can find it HERE.
Obviously, there are also options such as the FindMy apps and the likes of WhatsApp, where you can share location for several hours throughout the duration of the day.
There is also the dedicated AJ Bell ‘Motivation Station’ along the last stretch of the city centre track, where people can write messages of support for those final metres and yards. Enter yours now.
Last but not least, you can find the official event guide in full on the Great Run website, with all the info above and more, plus plenty of other extras.
Once again, we’d also encourage you all to download the official app, which should help you access all these key details quickly and easily, not to mention have your tracker to hand so you don’t miss the all-important runners on the day.
That’s just about it; all we have left to say is have a wonderful Great Manchester Run and have an incredible day – and for those of you running: go and absolutely smash it! We’re proud of you already.
Read more:
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- MCR Storm have already set a new record before they’ve even returned ‘home’
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Images — AJ Bell Great Manchester Run
