Race Across the World stars join Manchester run tribute to Sam Gardiner

The Great Manchester Run became as much a civic memorial as a sporting fixture, with Race Across the World stars joining thousands of runners in memory of Sam Gardiner. Katie and Harrison were among the familiar faces on the streets of Manchester on Sunday 31 May 2026, as the city’s biggest Great Manchester Run weekend drew about 40,000 participants and more than 100,000 spectators.

Great Run said the 2026 edition was its biggest Manchester weekend ever. About 38,000 runners were set for the main Sunday races, the 10K and half marathon, while around 2,000 children and families took part in the Junior & Mini events on Saturday 30 May. The course began on Portland Street and finished on Deansgate, sending runners past Old Trafford, the Etihad, the Imperial War Museum and Salford Quays before the finish on one of the city centre’s busiest stretches.

The tribute carried particular force after Sam Gardiner died aged 24 following a car crash in 2025. Gardiner, a former Race Across the World contestant, was remembered by a wider group drawn from the programme’s cast, with runners from every series expected to take part. Alongside Katie and Harrison, the field included Kush Burman and Joe Diop, while last season’s winner Caroline Bridge also joined the tribute. The group was assembled by Emon Choudhury, giving the event a shared sense of loss that extended beyond television viewers into the crowd lining Manchester’s roads.

BBC Two broadcast the race live from 11am to 1pm, carrying the scale of the occasion to a national audience as runners threaded through the city’s landmarks. The combination of a mass-participation race, a televised showcase and a public act of remembrance underscored why events like the Great Manchester Run have grown so large: they are part health campaign, part charity engine and part civic ritual. In Manchester, that meaning was sharpened by the sight of contestants from Race Across the World running together for Sam Gardiner, turning a major sporting weekend into a citywide statement of memory and solidarity.