The best: Charity runs and obstacle courses to tackle around Manchester in 2024

In honour of World Cancer Day, Manchester’s beloved Christie NHS Foundation Trust hosts another Night of Neon at Salford Quays on Sat 3 Feb. Beginning at Lowry Plaza, the fabulously vibrant nocturnal party invites participants to grab their brightest tutu and don their best face paint to ‘light up the night’ with 5km of walking, singing and dancing along the neon-themed route.

Sign up below and get a free neon t-shirt, glow wristband and finisher’s medal.

Billed as ‘a 10k mud-fuelled assault course designed by Royal Marine Commandos’, the full-tilt Born Survivor course emulates a bruising military gauntlet from top to bottom, complete with gruelling terrain, aggressively off-putting pun names for every obstacle and a guarantee that you’ll be barking the phonetic alphabet at friends, loved ones and merging hatchbacks for months afterwards.

Choose from beginner 6k courses, the 10k classic or enlist in the Elite Squadron challenge to compete for coveted Born Survivor trophies and even win prizes.

On Sun 26 May, Manchester’s original and favourite charity run returns with another city-wide celebration packed with live music, high-energy entertainment and a pulsating soundtrack to propel participants along their chosen path, with 10k or half-marathon routes available.

To secure your spot and read countless glowing testimonials from previous participants, click the link below.

Designed to be fun, welcoming and fit for kids and grown-ups alike, Race for Life’s Pretty Muddy course makes use of the sodden Mancunian summer with a celebratory squelch through Heaton Park. Participants are encouraged to bring their families for support as they climb, crawl and slide across undulating terrain while raising money for Cancer Research UK.

Sign up below using the code RACE24NY to get 50% off your entry fee.

The following weekend, the nation’s most popular outdoor challenge takes over with another thrillingly innovative six-mile gauntlet through open plains, icy water, gently swaying fronds of electrified wire and a delightful crawl patch, misted over with their ‘proprietary tear gas blend’. Created to test your mettle at every turn, Tough Mudder taps into your unbreakable spirit, forges a deep bond with your fellow ‘Mudders’ and creates memories to last a lifetime.

There’s also a child-friendly Lidl Mudder, which swaps out the Hell Week masochism for a mile of messy mayhem, suitable for ages 5-12.

Boasting 32 enormous obstacles with names like ‘The Beast’, ‘The Demon’, ‘Viper’ and simply ‘The Holes’, the world’s biggest inflatable 5k course is set to deliver its best instalment yet on Sat 3 Aug, transforming Knutsford’s Clay House Farm into a rubbery crucible for all fitness levels.