Newsroom University of Manchester

University cheers on Olympic and Paralympic medal hopefuls at Paris 2024

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:27:25 +0100

The University of Manchester is proud to count four of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes competing in this year’s Games as students, alumni and partners of its Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS).

Team GB’s Grace Harvey, Paralympic swimmer and current student at The University of Manchester, will be taking part in multiple events from the 28 August to 8 September. Aimee Pratt, an alumni of the University and an Anatomical Sciences graduate, has already competed in the 3000m Steeplechase event, placing 11^th in her heat and putting in a very promising performance at her second Olympics.

Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls who access training services through the University are also representing Team GB in Paris this year. The University offers support to athletes through , the Sport England funded partnership delivered across educational institutions.

in this year’s Games supported by the University’s Performance Sport team include track cyclist Archie Atkinson, who will make his Paralympics debut this year, and athletics star Keely Hodgkinson. Keely is already a Paris success story, becoming Olympic Champion and taking Gold in the 800m final on 5August.

The University of Manchester has a proud history of developing elite sportspeople. As a TASS Delivery Site, the University of Manchester has supported over 150 athletes since the scheme began in 2004.

The programme provides talented athletes with access to performance sport experts and experienced practitioners. The University’s TASS offering covers everything from physiotherapy and nutrition support to medical schemes and sport psychology advice.

The Purple Wave raises more than £11k for University causes

Fri, 24 May 2019 16:26:00 +0100

How are your legs? Recovered yet? It’s been almost a week since the University’s now legendary took to the streets of Manchester once more for the city’s 10k and half-marathon versions of the .

While those who took part have been celebrating, recovering and already signing up for next year, our statisticians have been beavering away and the numbers are finally in. All together more than 1600 people ran the 10k and half-marathon distance.

The biggest number is the total distance travelled by all our Purple Wave runners. Including their tracked training our runners ran a grand total of 63,290.55km…that’s enough to travel to Singapore and back.

The seconded highest (but perhaps most impressive) number has to be £11,153.17 raised by 107 runners for the University's Undergraduate Access Scholarships, International Equity and Merit Scholarships and at the University.

James Marenghi, Sport Participation Manager at , said: "We were delighted to see such a large number of University students, staff and alumni walking, jogging and running for such a variety of positive reasons.

“The Purple Wave has really brought together and inspired the University community to collectively raise funds for some great causes and support healthy and happy lifestyles."

Despite doing “no training” and having “aching bones” prior to the event (his ), on the day our Chancellor, Lemn Sissay, ran the 10k in a respectable 1:16:38.

However, our fastest runners racked-up some amazing times:

Female 10k – Hannah Stroud (37:04)
Male 10k – Arlo Ludewick (33:50)
Female ½ marathon - Ella Petley (1:38:10)
Male ½ marathon - James Bannister (1:23:50)

If that sounds too quick for you and even puts you off taking part, don’t worry, this year 53 walkers walked the event for the first time. Now there is no excuse not to take part next year!

For those who want to relive the glories and for those who simply couldn’t make it on the day, you can watch the BBC’s coverage on . The Purlple Wave features from around 1hr 51m mark and includes an interview with Lemn himself.

James added: “We want to thank everyone who took part and are looking at how we can develop Purple Wave opportunities broader than running in the near future, so watch this space!”

Runner to pass 650 km mark in 365 day epic

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 16:42:03 +0100

A runner based at The University of Manchester is almost a third of the way to completing his epic challenge of running 5km every day for a year.

Graham Holland – who is raising cash for Alzheimer’s Research UK – will reaches day 100, passing the 650km mark on 10 April.

He will also done the famous Purple shirt in the Great 91ֱ�� Run on May 19 – or day 139.

The University will have its own start time at the internationally renowned 10k run, with a Purple Wave of runners wearing the purple technical running t-shirts they receive on registration.

The eLearning support officer based at the University of Manchester Library will have run in excess of 1,825 km or 1,134 miles when he finishes on January 1, 2020.

He is spurred on by the desire to help his mum Eileen who was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2018.

He said: “After my mum’s diagnosis I decided I wanted to do something to help Alzheimer’s Research UK which is doing great work on researching the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this disease.

“Dementia is such a terrible thing to happen to someone - and when it’s someone close to you, it’s particularly hard.

“And as ARUK is a partner charity for parkrun UK it made sense for me to support them.”

Graham began running outdoors after colleagues at the library encouraged him to run at lunchtime and he went from strength to strength.

In no time he’d taken part in UMRun’s monthly Rundezvous scheme - where staff members run to work for a free breakfast – and became a regular in his local parkrun clocking a PB of just over 21 minutes for 5K.

And when he joined the Purple Wave for the first time in 2018 it was an easy decision for him to repeat the effort as part of his 365 day challenge.

He added: “Eight years ago I was overweight and unfit. But At 49, I’m now the fittest I’ve even been and that’s a testament to running.

“There’s something inspirational about running with other people which is why parkrun is so good and which is why I loved the Great 91ֱ�� run: you’re cheered the whole way which is amazing.

“Running is a release from whatever is going on at home. I listen to music or use the time to think. That’s why everyone should give it a go.”

Last year, 2,283 people donned the famous purple shirt to form their own Purple Wave in the race around Central 91ֱ��.

Many students, staff and alumni have joined the Purple Wave in previous years, and run to raise money to support local young people access a world class education at 91ֱ��.

Runners who agree to fundraise for The University’s acclaimed Undergraduate Access Scholarship will be able to run for free.

Runners will also be able to choose to fundraise for Equity and Merit Scholarships or medical research.

Graham will meet outside the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons at 12.10pm for a 12:15pm start. You can do one 2.5k loop or the full 5k

Check out the route here