On the first anniversary on the Manchester arena bombing, which took the lives of 22 people, a man has pledged to run 63 miles as a tribute to the resilience of Mancunians.
Filmmaker and amateur runner Nathan Rae left his home early this morning to complete the epic trip, and plans to pay his respects outside the arena at 10:31pm tonight, the time of the attack one year ago.
“The attack was sickening but I found our city’s response to it inspiring and hopeful,” he says on his website. “I’m just trying to capture a small part of that a year on.”
Nathan’s route will form the shape of a heart with the letters ‘MCR’ written inside it. He’s wearing a GPS tracker to create the #WeLoveManchester tribute.
The route will go through central Manchester, Trafford, Salford, and Stockport, stopping outside of some of the the A&E departments where the wounded were treated a year ago, including Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe, and Salford Royal Hospital.
Nathan predicts the run will take him around 16 hours to complete, and the hard work is all for North West Air Ambulance service, which responds to medical emergencies 365 days a year.
The runner has set up a JustGiving page for the organisation and at the time of writing, has raised more than £590.
You can track Nathan’s progress via a live Garmin Maps update here.