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

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.