We cannot wait to welcome 32,000 people to Trafford and Manchester this weekend for what is shaping up to be our biggest and best event yet. Our team’s full attention is on helping everybody taking part achieve their goals and have a brilliant experience. Alongside this we’ve understandably been getting a lot of questions about what happens next year, so the following article goes through some of the common asks, starting with the date…

We’re pleased to confirm that the 2025 edition of the adidas Manchester Marathon will take place on Sunday 27 April. Established as one of the largest in Europe, the event raises millions for charity and brings huge benefits to the local area thanks to increased tourism and collaborative community schemes.

For the first time in recent history, the UK’s two largest marathons (London & Manchester) will take place on the same day, with a combined 90,000 people likely to attempt an organised 26.2-mile challenge across the two cities. Guaranteed public places for the 2025 adidas Manchester Marathon will be released from Midday on Tuesday 16 April 2024.

We know you might have a few questions, so you can find out more about how to take part, and reasons behind the decisions below:

 

HOW DO I GET A PLACE TO TAKE PART IN 2025?

The adidas Manchester Marathon has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years, with the 2024 event hitting capacity in record time despite an increased capacity of 32,000. The overwhelming feedback we’ve received from our participants is that they don’t want a ballot and would prefer that the event allows people to enter via a guaranteed mechanic. Based on this we will be releasing an initial allocation of places on a first come, first served basis.

People signing up early helps with the planning and organisation of the event, so we will continue to operate a tiered pricing structure with those who sign up earliest getting the best value. For example, the first 2,025 places will be at the lowest price of £59*. To thank them for their support, certain audiences will get early access to our allocations to give them first refusal. A breakdown on the priority audiences is shown here (all times are currently approx.):

SUNDAY 14 APRIL 19:00            2024 FINISHER LEGENDS (4 OR MORE FINISHES)

SUNDAY 14 APRIL 20:00            ALL OTHER 2024 FINISHERS

MONDAY 15 APRIL 10:00           2025 PRIORITY ACCESS LIST

TUESDAY 16 APRIL 12:00           PUBLIC

To be included on the 2025 Priority Access list make sure you register on our dedicated page ASAP. No decision has yet been made on if/how further places will be made available later in the year, so if you don’t wish to commit yet, please check back for updates in due course.

WHY IS MANCHESTER THE SAME DAY AS LONDON MARATHON?

A lot of consideration goes into selecting the date of each edition. Choosing the best option for 2025 was a little more complicated than usual. One of the main factors is Easter, which moves back three weeks in 2025 to Sunday 20 April (from 31 March in 2024). Easter and the surrounding holiday period complicate things for both organisers and participants, so wherever reasonable we try to avoid this.

Other considerations include (but are not limited to) football and cricket fixtures, daylight hours available, other large events in the region, transport availability, etc. So, in short, Sunday 27 April is the best date for us to give you a fantastic marathon experience. It’s reassuring but not surprising that London came to the same conclusion.

We talk to other major marathons to try and avoid dates clashing, but all things considered, on this occasion it didn’t make sense to avoid each other. We’ve done our due diligence, showing no major concerns about the events taking place at the same time, and instead believe it’s going to be a pretty historic day in the world of running. We hope you’ll be part of it! London is great, it’s very oversubscribed, we don’t see each other as ‘competition’. Together we can hopefully inspire future generations to be part of epic challenges.

Going into the London Marathon ballot? We recommend you register for the adidas Manchester Marathon ASAP to secure a place (& the best value). If you are successful in your London ballot application, we will refund your full Manchester entry cost (minus booking fee) if you provide us with the relevant proof by Friday 6th September 2024. Those purchasing team or duo tickets will have the relevant portion of the fee refunded for that individual. Proof provided will need to show the successful London ballot application matches your name and DOB. We’ll provide details of how to do this on our official website (ManchesterMarathon.co.uk) shortly before ballot results are released. Good luck!

 

WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT IN 2025?

We always endeavour to use your feedback to keep what you love about the marathon, plus focus on areas that could make everyone’s experience even better. For example, in recent years we have added the city centre loop through Deansgate and re-imagined the start process (to simplify instructions and avoid people waiting around too long).

Behind the scenes, we have been working on some pretty awesome plans for 2025, although we won’t be able to share them until later this year. If you’re joining us in 2024, please take a moment to fill in the survey after the event, we take this very seriously and would like to hear from you what we should be focusing on in future.

As always, we’d like to thank the local authorities, businesses and residents for their help and support in making this truly extraordinary event possible. Thanks to you for taking the time to read this article. We’ll share any future updates on our official website (ManchesterMarathon.co.uk)

*All registrations are subject to a small booking fee