RHAC Greater Manchester Ringway Relay, 26-27th June, 2026

IN THE EARLY HOURS of Thursday, 26th June, 2026 , we will begin our continuous relay run of the 199-mile (320-km) Greater Manchester Ringway (“GM Ringway”). We would be delighted if you would sponsor us, with all proceeds going to Springhill Hospice, Rochdale.

In our version of the GM Ringway, we will start at and finish at the Norden Bus Terminus (by the Bridge Chippy (shown as point 12 on the above map). We have included a 5K leg for our Junior athletes of age 12+ (Leg 10b – see map below). This is not a race, it is a series of back-to-back social Club training runs taking the form of a 200 mile loop around Greater Manchester. Typically only two runners will be moving at any one time, with a baton, which they pass on to the next pair of runners at the next checkpoint. As such, participation is free, but limited to Club Members only.

As with our previous mega relays (2024 Pennine Way Relay and the 2025 Coast-to-Coast Relay) we will have a trusty, bespoke baton and 24/7 GPS tracking via a web page. Here is our Coast-to-Coast GPS trace from 2025.

Taking part is a big commitment. While many of the legs look very familiar, there are some odd twists and turns and seemingly irrelevant parts which are counter-intuitive and just feel wrong. If you navigate using common sense and local knowledge you will probably go the wrong way. Hence the need to recce your leg before the big day. During recce’s, quite a few members have got lost and added an hour to their leg.

The arrangements are similar to our previous mega relays (2024 PWR and 2025 C2C). For example, you will need to recce your section before the big day, wear or carry full fell kit, sign an entry form and disclaimer, provide a completed PARQ form (if you have not already done so via training) and be a fully paid-up member of the Club on relay day. As all legs are reasonably local and have good access to public transport, we will not be arranging road support.

After the relay we will celebrate in Rochdale on the Saturday 27th June.

Table 1 – GM Ringway Legs (start and end times are VERY approximate and will depend on many, unpredictable factors. Just 1 min/mile difference in pace = 4hr difference in start/finish time of later legs).