Manchester Marathon 2027 training plan

When to start training

Every plan counts back from race day, so the start date depends on how many weeks you give it. These are the Mondays each length begins.

Start later and the builder still makes a plan, shorter and built as far as it safely can. Start earlier and it begins 24 weeks out, with easy running until then.

The course

The organisers call it the UK's flattest major marathon. When we checked, the official site showed the 2026 route map and no 2027 map yet, so this is the 2026 route. Expect the 2027 one to be published nearer the day.

• Miles 1 to 4. A start near Old Trafford, then a short loop towards Castlefield and Hulme and back.
• Miles 5 to 13. South-west along Chester Road through Stretford, then Sale and Timperley, to Altrincham at about halfway.
• Miles 14 to 20. Back east through Timperley and Baguley, then north through Sale Moor and Sale. The map shows more turns here than on the way out.
• Miles 21 to the finish. East along Edge Lane to Chorlton-cum-Hardy at about Mile 22, then north through Hulme to a finish near Oxford Road, at the edge of the city centre.

The 2026 map marks drinks stations along the whole route. Check the 2027 map for where they are before you plan your gels.

The 2027 start time was not on the official site when we checked. The last runner to start has at least 6 hours to finish (organisers' help page).

Pace band

Set to even pace in mile splits, as the route map is marked in miles. On a course this flat, even pace is the plan. The organisers publish no elevation profile, so there is nothing honest to shape the splits with.

The miles back from Altrincham are where an even pace starts to feel hard. Check the band there, and save any push for Chorlton, with four miles left.

Weather in April

The Met Office's 1991 to 2020 averages for Woodford, the station it lists for Manchester Airport, give April an average high of 13.0°C and an average low of 4.1°C. It rains on about 11 days in the month, 56 mm in total.

Cool, then, and often damp. A light layer you can throw away at the start helps, and the same layer on long runs in March tells you whether you need it. Check the forecast in race week.

Fuelling and heat

Practise race-day fuel on your long runs, not for the first time on the day. The fuelling calculator works out carbs per hour and when to take each gel for your goal time. If race week turns warm, the heat pace calculator shows how much to slow down.

How to get a place

Where entry stood in October 2026:

• Public places. Sold out. The organisers say over 40,000 public places went in 10 days in the April 2026 launch window. See how to get a place.
• Charity places. A limited number, through the five official charities: Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Mind and The Christie Charity. Mind's places had already gone, with a waiting list. See Run for charity.
• London ballot refund. Runners who entered in the launch window could claim a refund if they got a London 2027 ballot place. The deadline was 1 September 2026 and has passed.