Manchester Marathon

The course

Manchester is the flattest of the big British marathons, and it does not pretend otherwise. There is no landmark climb and no defining hill. What it offers instead is rhythm. The race starts on Chester Road, under the arch beside Old Trafford, and its first move is inward: up Bridgewater Way and Chester Road towards Castlefield and Deansgate, a brief look at the city centre before the course turns and heads the other way entirely. The long middle is Trafford. Stretford, then Sale, then Timperley, then Altrincham. From there it swings out towards Baguley and begins the return: a slow northward curve back through Chorlton and Whalley Range, suburban and steady, into Hulme. The last mile is the reason people run it. The course turns onto Oxford Road and goes straight up it between the university buildings, finishing outside Whitworth Hall with the crowd stacked on both sides. Elevation across the route is negligible; the steepest single kilometre on it gains about thirteen metres. This is a course for choosing a number early and holding it.

Start

Chester Road, under the arch beside Old Trafford, Trafford

Finish

Oxford Road, outside Whitworth Hall at the University of Manchester

Shape

point-to-point

Terrain

Flat — one of the flattest big-city marathons in Britain, with no sustained climb anywhere on it. The steepest single kilometre gains around 13 m, at about 1.3 per cent, between 19 and 20 km. Road throughout.