Yohan Lidove produced the biggest performance of his career to win the adidas Manchester Marathon in a personal best of 2:15:19, edging clear of compatriot William Strangeway over the final three kilometres of a warm, breezy day in the north-west. Strangeway took second in 2:15:42 with James Wilkinson third in 2:16:08, in what organisers billed as the strongest domestic men's field assembled outside of London in several seasons. A sold-out entry of 42,000 lined up behind the elites at Old Trafford, making this the UK's second-largest marathon and the largest English Championship race of 2026.
In the women's race Naomi Robinson repeated her 2024 podium finish with victory in 2:36:57, breaking away from Heather Townsend at roughly 32 kilometres and holding her margin through the closing miles on Oxford Road. Townsend was second in 2:37:42 and Louise Flynn completed the podium in 2:44:23, with the first three all comfortably inside the Great Britain and Northern Ireland championship qualifying window. Robinson, a regular fixture on the domestic club scene, said afterwards that she had not expected to be leading solo so far out but had felt strong from the second half of the Stockport section onwards.
Callum Hall won the wheelchair race earlier in the morning, opening the afternoon's programme with a commanding solo ride that he controlled from the first rise through Sale. The British number one had signalled his intent in the early miles and was never seriously challenged, crossing the line ahead of a small but competitive domestic wheelchair field. Organisers praised the way marshals handled the overlapping wheelchair, elite and mass-start waves at a course that has steadily tightened its logistics year on year.
Conditions were unusually mild for April in Greater Manchester, with temperatures rising into the mid-teens Celsius by the time most mass-start runners were through halfway, and a steady north-westerly wind that favoured runners heading back into the city. Several club athletes reported stronger than expected splits through Altrincham and Sale before slowing on the return, a pattern typical of Manchester's net-flat but wind-exposed second half. The charity total for 2026, organisers said, was on course to exceed the £5.5 million target that had been publicly set in February.
Manchester now hands the domestic spring-marathon spotlight to London next Sunday, with a handful of athletes who raced today likely to be watching closely from the sidelines as Emile Cairess, Eilish McColgan and others target British record territory. For those at the front of today's race, however, the immediate priority is recovery and a quieter week, while organisers start the short turnaround to 2027 with entries for next year's edition set to open to previous finishers within the next fortnight. Full results will be posted to the race website once finalised.