Man runs 67-mile heart-shaped ultra marathon around Manchester in honour of bombing victims

A marathon runner completed an incredible 67-mile heart-shaped run around Manchester to honour those who lost their lives in the arena bombing.

Nathan Rae, 37, embarked on the 18-hour run on Tuesday which marked one year on from the terror attack in which 22 people were killed.

He mapped the route on Strava, a tracking app for runners, and the final product was a heart shape around the city with the initials MCR in the middle.

Mr Rae, a video producer from Chorlton, said he started running ultra-marathons two years ago after completing his first standard marathon and decided to do this run “to make people in the city smile” a year on from the atrocity.

“I had been looking at the GPS art which is when people find a shape in a map and they run it and I was looking for a bee [the symbol of Manchester] but couldn’t find one so in the end had to settle for heart with the initials,” he told the Standard.

“I had the idea a couple of months ago but made the decision to do it on Saturday.

“The run was great, there was a tough bit in the middle but I had loads of people come out to meet me and run with me – including friends from my running club – which made it easier.”

Mr Rae ran for more than 18 hours, starting at Sale 8am and finishing at Manchester Arena shortly before midnight.

It passed through Manchester, Trafford, Salford, and Stockport stopping outside of some of the A&E departments where the wounded were treated a year ago.

The father-of-four is used to running long distances but said that this run was more of an emotional strain than previous runs he had done due to the nature of the event.

“Yesterday was more tiring mentally and emotionally. But I had lots of people coming out to support me.

"I want to say a big thank you to everyone who came out to run and the members of my running club who helped me.”

He was joined by members of his club, Chorlton runners, as well as members from other clubs and was cheered on by everyone from families to nurses.

Mr Rae has already raised an impressive £3,000 for North West Air Ambulance.

On his fundraising page, he wrote: “The attack was sickening but I found our city's response to it inspiring and hopeful. I'm just trying to capture a small part of that a year on.”