Sport
The female-only five-mile trail race that’s been running through Salford for over three decades
Like trail running, cross country or just fancy a female-only event? This might be up your street.
Danny Jones -
12th March 2025 
The running boom in Greater Manchester is getting bigger every year but for lots of locals, it’s been a regular pastime for much longer and some events like this women’s trail race in Salford have been going for more than thirty years.
Jogging and road racing are one thing but trail running is a discipline all of its own and with such wonderful landscapes to traverse all over the North West let alone just the 10 boroughs, thousands get stuck into it every year.
With that in mind, 2025 marks the 33rd edition of the annual Ladies Trail Race hosted by Swinton Running Club, which sees hordes of female runners turn up to take part and, most importantly, have fun every single year.
Taking place this spring, the latest event makes use of Salford’s largest conservation area and is expecting yet another solid turnout.
Aiming to provide a welcoming space for all women, regardless of background or experience, the Ladies Trail Race gives Mancs a chance to run through some of the most stunning parts of Salford.
The race is a single-lap course spanning five miles that passes the lake at Old Warke Dam and includes sections of Greater Manchester’s famous Bridgewater Canal as well as the beauty of Worsley Woods.
Alternating between trails, woodland terrain and sections of tarmac path, the ease of traversal does fluctuate but is still considered a very accessible level of difficulty, meaning no one should be put off.
Having run through this particular area of Salford ourselves separate from the event itself, we can confirm it’s a wonderful route and a brilliant way to immerse yourself in nearby nature too.
Better yet, it’s a fantastic female-focused event in a space that can often feel intimidating for some.
As Swinton Runners put it, “It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in races and we want to bring women together to push their boundaries and gain a sense of achievement.”
For context, when running-based campaign group SheRaces took a poll of 400 female runners to see if they’d be interested in a women-only race, the response was conclusive: 87% said they would – sadly the figures in
Speaking to The Manc, one of the event’s founding members, Margaret McClelland, told us: “I was there back in 1991 when we started the run.
“It was the brainchild of one of our members, Marie Henderson who found when she joined that the club, which even at the time had a high percentage of women runners compared to most clubs, that she enjoyed the camaraderie, the joy of running together with a supportive ‘family’.
“The club had hosted the ‘Women’s Own 10km’ run for a number of years […] Marie thought that we should get our own race back up again and whilst the men were very much involved it was a race for women, organised by women.
“The aim was to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for women to run, whatever their ability or goals. The first, last and everyone in between is as important as each other and for them to keep going, showing what running can do in terms of feel good, with the bonus of it not costing very much to do.”
It’s events like this and the strong base of female runners here in Greater Manchester that have helped pave the way for contemporaries like the upcoming Women’s Run Series by RunThrough to come to Heaton Park.
You can watch the 25th-anniversary video made for the City of Salford Women’s Run down below, and if you’re interested in taking part in the 2025 Ladies Trail Race, it takes place on Sunday, 4 May with a bright and early 9am start time.
You can sign up HERE – best of luck, runners!
Read more:
- The AJ Bell Great Manchester Run is back for 2025
- Man City Women part ways with manager Gareth Taylor just FIVE days before cup final
- Keely Hodgkinson is setting up her own running event ahead of a world record attempt
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Images — Swinton Running Club (supplied)
