This is the third Manchester Urbanathlon and it is likely to be bigger and better than ever before. This is a totally original urban obstacle course where you run, climb, crawl, slip, slide, scramble and dangle through the challenging marathon. Start on the 2002 Commonwealth Games track, stagger up the `Stairway to Heaven` at the MCFC stadium, take on the fireman’s water slide, pick your way through the spiders web, scramble up the giant haystack, attack the rock climbing wall, vault over derelict cars and much, much more!!

Start times are from 11.00am onwards with starting waves every 20mins, so there is no queuing at obstacles!

This is a great opportunity for almost everyone, from weekend warriors and fun runners to uniformed services and charity runners. Competitors receive a limited edition t-shirt and finishers medal.

After the race you can join the family friendly ‘Party in the Park’ festival in Phillips Park with a fun fair, live music, arts festival and loads more to do. All in all this is a great day out with something for everyone.

Urbanathlon’s nominated event charity is StreetGames UK (streetgames.org), a national charity which develops sport with disadvantaged communities and makes sport accessible to young people regardless of their social circumstances.

The marathon has a dedicated website urbanathlon.co.uk which has lots more information, including details of participation fees, race sponsorship forms, advice on training and you can also download the event application form from the site.

For more information about Urbanathlon 2010 contact them on 0845 1300849 or email info@urbanathlon.co.uk.

The M.E.N Arena (Victoria Station, Manchester, M3 1AR) will be hosting the Yonex 2010 European Individual Badminton Championships on the 14th to 18th April 2010.

The European Badminton Championships is a tournament organised by Badminton Europe, the governing body of badminton in Europe, since 1968.

The competition will showcase the badminton skills of many of the sports best athletes in one of Manchester’s premier arena venues.

The European Badminton Championships in Manchester will let fans of the sport across the North West see Badminton’s top sports men and women competing for the prestigious European Championship prizes.

The schedule for the event is as follows……….

Wednesday 14th April: 10.00-21.00 approx.(1st & 2nd Rounds – 5 courts)
Thursday 15th April: 10.00-22.00 approx. (2nd & 3rd Rounds – 5 courts)
Friday 16th April: 18.00-22.00 approx. (Quarter-Finals – 4 courts)
Saturday 17th April: 14.00-19.00 approx. (Semi-Finals – 2 courts)
Sunday 18th April: 12.00-19.00 approx. (Schools Final, Championships Show & Finals – 1 court)

Further information about the Championship can be found at European Badminton where you can find out more about the competiotion and about how to obtain tickets for the event.

Fans of championship Squash across the UK will be focussing on events in Manchester in February 2010 when the city hosts the British National Squash Championships 2010 at the National Squash Centre, Sportcity in Manchester.

With the National Badminton Championships finishing on the 7th its the turn of the sport of Squash, with Sportcity playing host to the British National Squash Championships 2010.

The week long championships start with qualifiers on Sunday 7th and Monday 8th, with the action starting on Tuesday 9th. This competition, which is one of the highlights of Squash’s sporting calendar, includes the world No 4 from Sheffield, Nick Matthew, and the women’s National title-holder Jenny Duncalf, No 6 in the world, from Harrogate. Other top ranking competitors expected to take part include Peter Barker, Alison Waters, James Willstrop and Madeline Perry.

The Championships will also include a programme of Masters events from Over-35 to Over-70 competitions. From the quarter finals onwards the competition will take place in the all glass court in the major arena. This area has seating for more than 1,000 spectators.

The National Squash Centre is located in Rowsley Street, Sportcity, Manchester, M11 3FF. You can book tickets for the event on the ticket hotline 0844 870 0000
or online from the Championship’s website. Competition enquireis should be made to Chris Nutley, England Squash and Racketball, by telephoning +44 (0)161 438 4306 or by emailing him at chris.nutley@englandsquashandracketball.com

Manchester is hosting the 2010 English National Badminton Championships. The venue for these national championships will be the Manchester Velodrome, (at The National Cycling Centre, Stuart Street, Manchester, M11 4DQ) and the event will take place between the 5th and 7th February 2010.

The English National Badminton Championship started in 1964 and is held annually. The event is organised by Badminton England, the governing body for the sport of badminton in England.

The English National Badminton Championships is supported through a partnership between Badminton England and Carlton, Manchester City Council, sportdiscount.com, and Imperial Consultants.

At the time of writing the following timetable is planned for the Championship:-

Friday 5th February 2010, 10.00am to 10.00pm
Men’s Singles
Women’s Singles,
Men’s Doubles
Women’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles

Saturday 6th February 2010
Session 1: 10.00am to 5.00pm
3rd Rounds (if remaining) & All Quarter Finals
Session 2: 6.00pm to 10.00pm
All Semi Finals

Sunday 7th February 2010
Manchester Junior Event at 1.00pm
All Championships Finals from 2.00pm

However, it is possible that the schedule will be revised nearer the time, so please visit the event’s dedicated website for full details.

Ticket prices vary and at the time of writing, they are……….

Friday 5th February 2010 (Unreserved Seating)

Full Price – £8.00/ Member – £6.00/ U16/OAP – £4.00

Saturday 6th February 2010 (Unreserved Seating – Session 1 – 3rd Rounds if remaining & All Quarter Finals)

Full Price – £10.00/ Member – £8.00/ U16/OAP – £5.00

Saturday 6th February 2010 (Unreserved Seating – Session 2 – All Semi Finals)

Full Price – £10.00/ Member – £8.00/ U16/OAP – £5.00

Sunday 7th February 2010 (Reserved Seating)

Premium Seats
Full Price – £14.00/ Member – £12.00/ U16/OAP – n/a

Standard Seating
Full Price – £12.00/ Member – £10.00/ U16/OAP – £6.00

There is a section of the Badminton England website dedicated to the event, which includes details on how to buy tickets for the championship, and I would expect the Official Website for the event to carry similar details.

Sometimes there is so much going on in Manchester that you can miss really exciting events and I think Revolution Cycling is one of these events. Revolution Cycling is a new approach to competitive cycling of which Manchester should be very proud of.

For those of you who have not encountered Revolution Cycling before, this is a new style of cycling event in the UK. If you think that cycling competitions are outdoor road races like the Tour de France, then you will find Revolution Cycling very different. Revolution Cycling has been designed to increase spectator appeal and revolutionise the way people think about competitive cycling.

This year, Season 7 will see some exciting developments including team competitions in addition to the more traditional head-to-head racing seen in previous competitions. Revolution Cycling’s website puts it like this……..

Each event includes feature races ranging from revenge matches to pro celebrity events. The racing is fast and the atmosphere is electrifying with non stop action, music and other attractions providing a night at the races for cycling and non-cycling fans alike.

This year’s participants include Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Victoria Pendleton and Nicole Cooke. Previous seasons have welcomed top road pros such as Gilberto Simoni, Yaroslav Popovych, David Millar and Brad McGee, as well as well known cyclists Franco Ballerini, Rolf Sorensen and Andrea Tafi.

The venue for Revolution Cycling, Season 7, is Manchester Velodrome, (The National Cycling Centre, Stuart Street, Manchester, England, M11 4DQ) and the confirmed dates for Season 7 are:

Saturday 14th November 2009
Saturday 5th December 2009
Saturday 16th January 2010
Saturday 27th February 2010

At the time of writing, tickets are still available and you can find out more about Revolution Cycling and buy tickets for the events at the Revolution website.

The world famous squash tournament, the ATCO British Open Squash Championship will be in held in Manchester from 8th to 14th September, 2009. The British Open has been in existence for more than 80 years and Manchester is proud to host it in 2009.

The competition which lasts from 8th to 14th September features the cream of UK and world wide sporting talent. Top ranking competitors including elite male and female players such as Karim Darwish, Rachael Grinham and Nicol David will take their place amongst other top squash talents in an international line up, to battle it out for the tournament prize.

Some of the early rounds will be held at The Northern, (Palatine Rd, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 3YA), a racket sports venue located in Didsbury, in the south of Manchester. However, the main focus of the action in the later stages of the Open will be the all-glass squash court at the National Squash Centre (Sportcity, Gate 13 Rowsley Street, Manchester M11 3FF) from September 10th, onwards.

For more information about the British Open Squash Championships 2009 and to book tickets for the championship, visit the event website.

The 2009 Urbanathalon will take place on Sunday, August 2nd 2009 at SportCity, East Manchester.

The Urbanathlon starts at Sportcity, East Manchester and finishes in Philips Park, a distance of around 5 km. It is a challenging 5km course that offers participants the opportunity to run, and climb over a number of exciting and challenging obstacles, in order to reach the finishing line.

There is a staggered starting time with the first groups setting off at 10.00am and further groups leaving the starting point every 20 minutes.

This is the second year of the Manchaster Urbanathlon and in the region of 700 runners participated in last yeards event.

The organisers describe the Manchester Urbanathlon as…………

“..a challenging but totally achievable foot race and urban assault course that brings excitement, adventure and physical fun to Manchester in 2009…”

It is also worth noting that there are no individual prizes for the 2009 event, although there are team prizes.

A YouTube video about Urbanathlon 2008 is well worth watching to get an idea of what to expect this year.

After the race is over there is the very popular annual ‘Party in the Park’ festival that is held in Phillips Park.

Visit the Urbanathlon website to find out more about the event, how to get involved and the Party in the Park afterwards.

The venue for this years World Netball Series is the Manchester Evening News Arena. The competition will take place from the 9th to the 11th October 2009 and 20 games are scheduled to take place over the 3 days of the sporting event.

Womens teams from England, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Samoa and Malawi are participating in the Series.

The games will be played according to amended, updated and improved competition rules, agreed with the International Federation Netball Association (IFNA). The rule changes are designed to improve play and test fitness and ability.

Games will be fast and furious and each game will be played over four six minute quarters with three 2 minutes breaks.

There are special spectators seating arrangements for this years Series. Spectators will be able to sit in specially designated areas of the MEN Arena with fans from their own country. These areas have been called England Enclosure, Aussie Posse, Kiwi Corner, Jamaica Jamboree, Malawi Mezzanine and Samoa Sector.

Full details of the World Netball Series 2009 are available from the Series website which includes fixture dates and ticket details.

This is an 8 team women’s water polo tournament for European national teams. The championships consists of a preliminary round, quarter finals, semi finals and final. Each team plays one match each day. The winner will be declared on 12th July, the final day of competition.

The Manchester Aquatics Centre is a world class swimming venue which was purpose built for the XVll Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester in 2002.

Tickets for the event are available for purchase from the ASA Awards Centre via the ticket line on 0800 220292 or via their website . More information about the LEN Women’s European Nations Water Polo Trophy 2009 in Manchester can be found on the competition website.

The Bupa Great Manchester Run was first staged six years ago in 2003. This charity fund raising event is one of a number of charity runs set up by Bupa with similar events taking place in Sheffield, London, Sunderland, Gateshead/Newcastle, Portsmouth, as well as Edinburgh and Dublin.

The run, at 10,000 meters long, is challenging enough to attract some of the worlds best distance runners. However, the race is very popular with a wide range of enthusiasts. This means that you should expect to see runners with a wide range of skills and abilities including a generous selection of runners from the celebrity world. This year a massive 33,000 participants are expected to participate.

The course the runners will take includes some of Manchester’s finest tourist attractions. Starting off in Portland Street, in central Manchester runners will travel south to the Manchester United Football Stadium (Old Trafford). Their journey continues past the Imperial War Museum North and Manchester Ship Canal before heading back into the city and the finish line on Deansgate.

The route is likely to be popular with spectators cheering on their favourite runners, as well as doing a bit of celebrity spotting.

Tickets for participating in the run have sold out, although you can obtain tickets when you book accommodation with certain hotels. Visit the Visit Manchester website for details of the hotels and offers available.

Full race details are available for the event website, www.greatrun.org