The iconic Great Manchester Run returns to the city’s streets on Sunday 21 May with the half marathon and 10K events.
To ensure you have the best experience, we’ve laid out some helpful travel advice to ensure you and your supporters are prepared for the all-important race day.
Key advice
- There will be a significant number of road closures and extensive bus diversions. Anyone making a journey by road should check the map below of the route and road closures before travel. Passengers travelling by bus should also check with their operator to see whether routes or times may be impacted.
- Metrolink will be the best choice for travel on race day. There are many stops located close to spectating points along the race route - more information in the 'Spectating' section.
- Manchester City play Chelsea on the same day, and because the half marathon route includes roads around the Etihad, we are asking fans travelling to the match to travel by tram to avoid road closures and congestion.
Road closures
As you can imagine, the race route requires a significant number of road closures across the Sunday. We strongly advising people travelling within the impacted areas to not drive on Sunday, as the closures are likely to cause congestion and delays, meaning that you may need to divert your route.
To see if your journey is impacted by road closures, you can take a look at the map at the top of this page, or download the full list of road closures.
Bus
A number of bus services will be diverted throughout the day due to the road closures in place for the event. There's more information about the bus services impacted and the diversion routes in the diversions guide, but we've summarised some key points below:
- Services using Parker Street will be severely affected due to the closure of Portland Street from Oxford Street to New York Street. The diversions guide has full details of the diversion route for both directions and alternative stops.
- Road closures to support the event will be implemented and later removed in several phases. This means that some bus routes will be returned to their usual route earlier than others.
- Other than the city centre impact, there will be disruption across the bus network, specifically around the Etihad and Old Trafford stadiums.
- Liverpool Road will also be closed on Saturday 20 May, resulting in bus diversions. Please check with your operator before travelling if this impacts your journey.
If you are considering catching a bus, follow the bus operators on Twitter for the latest service updates:
Arriving into Manchester by train
If you are travelling from outside the north west by train to participate to this year’s Manchester Run, we recommend traveling to Manchester Oxford Road or Manchester Piccadilly station.
Manchester Oxford Road train station is the closest to the start line in Portland Street and it is only 10 minutes’ walk. From Piccadilly you can walk or connect with Metrolink trams to take you to the start line.
View our map indicating the walking time between Metrolink stops.
Getting to the start line
First time to Manchester? Getting around is simple with the city’s Metrolink system.
There are 99 stops on the network with many close the event start/finish line and along the race route.
The nearest stop to the start line on Portland Street is St Peter's Square and finish line on Deansgate is Deansgate-Castlefield.
All runners will be asked to follow a walking route through China Town area to access Portland Street via Charlotte Street or Princess Street.
For full route details, please see the map at the top of this page.
Metrolink tickets
We recommend using contactless payment for travel.
Just touch-in at the start of a journey and touch-out at the end using a contactless bank card or device (such as a phone or watch) at the on-stop machines. We’ll then calculate your fare, but make sure you use the same device to avoid being overcharged!
If you're travelling by Metrolink as a family, you can save money with our family travelcard which allows travel for one to three children (aged under 16) accompanied by one or two adults. However, this only is available via the on-stop ticket machines.
You can find further information about ticket prices, tram frequency and everything else on the Metrolink webpages.
Park and ride
Don’t know where to park?
Park and Ride & Metrolink is a quick and easy solution to travel to the event, without worrying where to leave your car. This is a free service to passengers with a valid Metrolink ticket.
Spectating
Providing a friend with that all important encouragement and cheer?
There are many Metrolink stops located close to spectating points along the Manchester Marathon race route.
This means it’s quite easy to cheer them on from the start, halfway through and as they cross the finish line!
Below is a list of the stops which are close to the race route and how far along they are.
Half Marathon
- St Peter’s Square – for the start line
- Manchester Piccadilly – 2-mile marker
- Etihad Campus/Velopark – 4/5mile marker
- Old Trafford – 10-mile marker
- Trafford Wharf Road/ Wharfside/Imperial War Museum – 11-mile marker
- Cornbrook – 9/12.5-mile marker
- Deansgate Castlefield – for the finish line
10k
- St Peter’s Square – for the start line
- Cornbrook - 2km marker
- Old Trafford – 4km marker
- Wharfside/Imperial War Museum – 6/7km marker
- Cornbrook – 9km marker
- Deansgate Castlefield – for the finish line
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Learn more about getting to Co-op Live
Travel included with Co-op Live tickets
Co-op Live ticket holders can travel on the tram and new city centre shuttle buses.
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Learn more about the Bee Network
Say yellow to the Bee Network
Buses in Oldham, Rochdale and parts of Bury, Salford and north Manchester joined the Bee Network on 24 March.
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Learn more about new Starling Bank Bikes
New sponsor: Starling Bank Bikes
We’re delighted to welcome Starling Bank on board as the new sponsors of our bike hire scheme.
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Find full details of the bus routes, ticket fares and timetables
Manchester City Matchday Buses
We've teamed up with Manchester City to launch a large-scale bus trial helping fans from across Greater Manchester and nearby areas to travel to and from the Etihad Stadium on a matchday.
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Rate your journey
Rate your journey
We want to hear your views to help us deliver a better Bee Network for Greater Manchester.
-
Find out about planned works on the tram
Planned engineering works on Metrolink
Visit our dedicated webpage to find out how the works could affect your journeys.
-
Learn more about getting to Co-op Live
Travel included with Co-op Live tickets
Co-op Live ticket holders can travel on the tram and new city centre shuttle buses.
-
Learn more about new Starling Bank Bikes
New sponsor: Starling Bank Bikes
We’re delighted to welcome Starling Bank on board as the new sponsors of our bike hire scheme.
-
Rate your journey
Rate your journey
We want to hear your views to help us deliver a better Bee Network for Greater Manchester.
-
Learn more about the Bee Network
Say yellow to the Bee Network
Buses in Oldham, Rochdale and parts of Bury, Salford and north Manchester joined the Bee Network on 24 March.
-
Find full details of the bus routes, ticket fares and timetables
Manchester City Matchday Buses
We've teamed up with Manchester City to launch a large-scale bus trial helping fans from across Greater Manchester and nearby areas to travel to and from the Etihad Stadium on a matchday.
-
Find out about planned works on the tram
Planned engineering works on Metrolink
Visit our dedicated webpage to find out how the works could affect your journeys.