Nathan Rae, an ultra runner from Chorlton, has devised his very own tribute to those 22 people who died in the Manchester Arena atrocity a year ago. He ran 67 miles in a heart shape around Manchester.
It took him just over 18 hours and of course he mapped it on Strava. He said that he wanted to do something to make people in the city smile. To add to the achievement, he traced the initials MCR on the inside of the heart.
This is what Nathan says on his JustGiving page, in support of North West Air Ambulance:
“On the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena Bombing I created a large scale We Love Manchester art piece. I ran a 67-mile-long route making a #WeLoveManchester heart across the city, 8 miles high and 8 miles wide. The attack was sickening but I found our city’s response to it inspiring and hopeful. I was just trying to capture a small part of that a year on.”
His route took him through Manchester, Trafford, Salford, and Stockport stopping outside of some of the the A&E departments where the wounded were treated: Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe, and Salford Royal Hospital.
He had aimed to reach the Manchester Arena at around 10.30pm, the hour of the attack but he was an hour or so later than planned and spent some time there to reflect on what had happened a year ago when a terrorist murdered 22 innocent people, most of them women and children, at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.
