It’s once again time for The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness, one of the most inspiring and impactful charitable events of the year and one that you can be a part of.
For anyone unfamiliar with the initiative, the charity run is a mass participation group relay that is held over a full 24 hours right here in Manchester city centre, with Mancs and people all across the country tuning into a live stream to donate.
Runners and walkers alike set off together in recurring waves to complete 5km laps around the city streets, all in an effort to raise money for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity‘s ‘A Bed Every Night’ (ABEN) scheme, which aims to help provide shelter and support for those sleeping rough.
Providing crucial aid not only to Manchester’s existing homeless community but those at risk of ending up on the street, the charity works tirelessly year-round to reduce the number of rough sleepers as much as possible and now the MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness is back for 2023 to do their bit.
Now into its fifth year, the relay has raised an incredible total of £26,372.50, including £3,372.50 in Gift Aid since it first began, with over £12k of that being raised during the 2022 run alone and nearly 900 beds funded.
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Set up by University of Manchester students and now alumni, Tom Lewis and James Bannister (who served as Chairman and VC for the uni’s free running society, Run Wild MCR), the idea of the event was to run around the city and observe the conditions people living on the streets experience every night, all whilst raising vital funds to stop that happening.
All the money raised goes directly to the GMMC, which provides a comfy bed, a warm welcome and personal support for anyone sleeping rough on the streets in the region — a cause we can all get behind.
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Their mission is to end the need for rough sleeping and hidden homelessness throughout Greater Manchester and since the event’s inception in 2019, rough sleeping numbers across the region have reduced by 52%. Incredible stuff.
For those that stick through it all day and night, those last few laps are absolutely knackering — but they keep going anyway.
Last year’s event alone reached around 65,000 people across various social media channels and saw an almost even gender split both in those who engaged with the Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness online and who took part for themselves.
2022 saw over 1,000 laps completed by hundreds of people, as well as over 30 running clubs and local organisations, sports-based or otherwise, taking part and putting the miles in for the event.
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The Mayor of Greater Manchester himself, Andy Burnham, also paid an important visit to cheer everyone on and spread the word about the annual charity run. Rumour has it that Burno might even be taking part alongside the hordes of runners this year…
They also recently held their new ‘Shake-Out’ event from their new base of operations at 53two bar, theatre and arts charity venue on Watson Street, tucked just behind the main Deansgate strip, to raise awareness, get the fundraising ball rolling and show off the route for this year’s run.
While the people behind this truly remarkable event are still looking for local organisations to help promote the event and hopefully match their fundraising total for 2023, the Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness’s reputation is growing more each year — as is their tally.
Taking place on 15 November from the HQ at 53two, where looped laps of the route will start and end every few minutes, we sincerely hope you come along and get involved with this extremely worthy cause.
Not only will a few members of The Manc team be taking part yet again this year but we’ll also be sharing the live stream on our Facebook page. You can get donating NOW or on the night and we hope to see a few of you there and even more tuning in!
Featured Image — Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness/Run Wild MCR
Sport
The stats behind World Darts Champion Luke Littler’s brilliant year (and a bit) are quite staggering
Danny Jones
Yes, he’s done it: the still-teenaged Luke Littler is officially a World Darts Champion and although we all saw it coming, the stats behind his meteoric rise are, frankly, ridiculous.
As if becoming the youngest-ever player to ever win the 2025 PDC World Darts Championships at just 17 wasn’t impressive enough, his pathway, previous victories and numerous accolades leading up to this point really put things into perspective.
Oddly enough, he almost seemed destined to get his hands on the trophy the moment he fell just short in last year’s final against current world number one Luke Humphries.
Here are the numbers to prove it:
Luke Littler's ridiculous last 13 months completes one of the most insane sporting stories ever, let alone in darts.
🏆 Youngest world champion (by 7 years!) 🏆 Premier League & Grand Slam 🏆 11 total titles 📈 World no 2 (from 164) 🤑 £1.5m total prize money
As put together by Sporting Life journalist Chris Hammer, when the already long list of achievements in just his first year and a bit as a professional on the senior circuit is laid out in front of you like that, it really does feel like it was always going to happen, doesn’t it?
But this doesn’t even quite tell the full story.
Even before he won his first PDC title on the pro tour at the Bahrain Masters back in January, the Warrington-born teen had already won the senior Irish Open back in 2021 when he was just 14. Let us repeat that: 14 years old.
Going back even further, he’s been dominating the youth circuit for some time too – most notably becoming the first player in JDC (Junior Darts Corporation) history to win back-to-back World Championship titles in 2022 and ’23.
The trend of consecutive successes has only increased as time has gone on and now the youngster has won a trio of darts majors with a Grand Slam, World Series and Premier League title, not to mention two Masters tournaments and a pair of PDC Opens, winning the rest feels like a mere certainty.
The consistency behind his stats and level of averages alone are rather frightening and as the cherry on top of the Sid Waddell Trophy, Luke Littler also won the win the Ballon D’Art trophy after hitting 79 maximums – though Michael Smith does still hold the record for most 180s in a tournament (83).
LITTLER IS THE WORLD CHAMPION! 🏆
LUKE LITTLER ACHIEVES HIS DARTING DESTINY!
The 17-year-old sensation produces a spectacular display to defeat Michael van Gerwen 7-3 and create more history at Alexandra Palace!
Not to play on anyone’s inferiority complex here or force them to look back at what they were up to at his age either but, as detailed above, Littler‘s first-place prize of £500,000 has just seen him rack up more than £1.5 million in total earnings over the past 13 months since his pro debut.
But it doesn’t stop there…
As per The Telegraph, top players in the sport typically earn around £350,000 a year in shirt sales and other merchandising opportunities; he also stands to earn even more away from the board than he already does from personal dart sets once he turns 18 and betting sponsors inevitably come knocking.
Featured Images — Sky Sports (screenshot via YouTube)
Sport
Manchester city centre gym forced to close for repairs following New Year’s Eve flooding
Danny Jones
A city centre gym has been forced into temporary closure after it was flooded following heavy rainfall on Greater Manchester on New Year’s Eve.
While lots of people were toasting the end of 2024 earlier this week, many other residents and local businesses woke up to a less-than-ideal way to start the new year as flooding plagued the likes of Stockport, Altrincham, Bolton, central Manchester and more.
A whole section of the Bridgewater Canal over in Dunham Massey, Cheshire and here in the city centre, the flow caused various sections bits of waterside path to disappear completely underwater.
Naturally, being a very canal-centric district, Castlefield ended up being one of the most heavily affected areas and, unfortunately, The Y Club gym and health centre saw much of their facilities flooded and have had to close for drainage and repairs.
The gym and health club said in a lengthy post on social media: “Overnight, the Y Club was impacted by severe flooding, which has affected the ground floor, including the swimming pool, changing rooms, gym and fives courts.
“This is devastating news for our staff, members, and the entire Y Club community. Our immediate priority is to address the situation and begin the process of reopening the affected areas. The floodwaters will need to subside before we can safely begin repairs and restoration efforts.”
Explaining that various rooms will be out of action for a more significant period, they have made plans to relocate the majority of their gym equipment into the sports hall – mostly unscathed in comparison – to allow for gym members to still make use of the facilities.
The message on Instagram goes on to read: “As a result of this, the Y Club will remain closed until Wednesday, 7 January. We will continue to provide updates on when specific areas of the club will be ready to reopen.
“We understand how important the Y Club community is to all of you, and we share in your frustration. Please know that we are working tirelessly behind the scenes to restore the club and get things back to normal as soon as possible.”
“Any questions you may have please contact the club via email [at] [email protected]. Thank you for your patience and support during this challenging time.”
We’re sure we speak for everyone when we say we hope they get back on their feet in time to reopen properly next week and that the damage/repairs aren’t too costly.
Y Club is located right next door to the Castlefield Hotel and although the two Liverpool Road buildings are attached, there has luckily been no word of flooding in the latter as yet.
The gym was the only popular Manchester destination to have been hit with the watery scenes either, as student favourite bar and nightclub Joshua Brooks was forced to close on New Year’s Eve after their basement room – which sits precariously just above the canal – unfortunately flooded as well.
Danny Jones -
20th October 2023 
