Ahh – and what a fabulous day it was too in lovely Manchester! Let us set the scene… the calendar said Sunday 7th April, the sun was just peeking through the clouds, temperatures were rising up to a comfortable 10°c and 20,000 nervous (but eager) runners were getting ready to start their epic 26.2 mile challenge! And amongst all the excitement there we were! Members from our Northwich, Lymm, Congleton and some of our newest recruits from Nantwich, choirs too were getting ready to sing our hearts out and raise spirits throughout the day! 

For those of you not familiar with the Manchester Marathon, it is a very flat route. While many professionals enter this flat and fast run to get a PB, many first time marathon runners also choose this as their first ever race to test their running stamina which is very exciting to watch. From very professional, serious looking runners warming up to those raising money in fancy dress costumes we wanted to say a huge well done to every single runner we sang to out there! 

We’re taking our hat off in particular to the giant rhino – it must have been very hot under there! Also, a huge shout out to the first male runner across the line, Aaron Richmond who ran the route in a very speedy 02:21:34 and to Jenny Spink who was the winner of the women’s race with a time around 2:35:00. Incredible efforts!

We found that much of the entertainment was happening near the beginning of the course, but our Cheshire Pop Choirs were stationed at mile 22.5 in Urmston, the classic ‘hit the wall’ mile, as many runners refer to it! This really was the perfect spot for us to sing as it meant we were positioned to really boost the mood just when the runners needed it the most. Locals who were watching spoke to some of our choir members and told them how great it was to have some entertainment there as they’d never had anyone there before which we thought was pretty ace.

It was very clear that the runners really appreciated us being there singing – many of them applauded as they passed by and shouted ‘thank you!!’ as they went on. Funnily enough, by far our most popular song was ‘Run to You’ and we loved seeing all the runners joining in as they came past and smiling along with us. 

Our choirs were simply fantastic too! We ended up singing for over 5 hours non-stop, only taking turns for short 5-10min breaks throughout the day (I did the whole lot!! I was loving it). So a huge, huge well done to everyone who came along to support Cheshire Pop Choirs and show everyone just how much fun singing as a group can be!  

By the last hour or so we’d had enough of singing our regular set and we opted to sing a bit of group karaoke for all the stragglers (who were clearly wishing they’d never entered the marathon in the first place!) We managed to get a few weary but cheerful smiles when we belted out ‘I will survive’ at that point – I’m sure you can all imagine the scene! 

The feedback from our gorgeous choir members after Sunday has been fabulous! I think it’s fair to say we all thoroughly enjoyed the day and got a real buzz from being a part of such a special event. There really was just such a joyous atmosphere – and possibly the most bizarre scenery we’ve ever sung to. I mean c’mon it’s not every day you get to entertain Wonder Woman, Bert & Ernie, a giant Rhino, Madonna, Firemen and a whole host of others but our choir members took it in their stride! 

If you didn’t get a chance to see us at the Manchester Marathon, or if you’re reading this thinking ‘That sounds like fun’ – it is! We welcome everyone with open arms and don’t hold auditions at our groups. Our motto is that you don’t need the best singing voice to be a great part of the choir – you just need enthusiasm!  Our choirs sing songs from Motown to 80s classics to current pop charts, musicals and more – whatever’s popular at the moment. 

If you would like to sign up for a taster, or if you’d just like to hear more about what we do here at Cheshire Pop Choirs then you can find out more by visiting our website here, sending us an email to info@cheshirepopchoirs.co.uk or phoning up using one of the numbers below!

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Congleton: 01260 725 195

Northwich: 01606 601 251

Lymm: 01925 568 238

Nantwich: 01270 350988