Gruelling 100-mile bike ride Tour de Manc comes to Rochdale

Photo: Google, DigitalGlobe

The steep climb up Owd Betts over Edenfield Road, Norden and past Ashworth Moor Reservoir

A 100-mile bike ride of blood, sweat and gears is coming to Rochdale on Sunday 6 May.

The 103-mile Tour de Manc ride passes through all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester and is now in its third year.

It offers two distances – the 100-mile ‘Full Manc’ and the 100km ‘Half Manc’.

The Full Manc starts and finishes at the David Lloyd Manchester North Club, taking an ant-clockwise route.

Heading out on a flat, mainly downhill route, past Heaton Park, towards Agecroft, through Salford, past Old Trafford and Chorlton to Stockport to Marple. From there, competitors will see a sensational view of Manchester and a panorama of the hills to the North East and the North.

After heading through Tameside and Saddleworth, the Tour will make its way to Newhey and Milnrow before heading through Rochdale to Norden. From Ogden, the cyclists will descend Huddersfield Road into Newhey, following Newhey Road to Dale and Bridge Street in Milnrow.

The route continues along Rochdale Road to Firgrove, taking a right up Albert Royds Street, a left onto Reservoir Street and Belfield Road before carrying on along Entwisle Road, Smith Street, South Parade, The Esplanade.

From there, the tour passes down Dane Street onto Mellor Street, up Spotland Bridge and Edenfield Road into Norden. Then, after a quick stop, the hard part begins: a steep climb up Owd Betts to Holcombe and Belmont before a climb at Heap Bridge to Bury and back to the David Lloyd gym at Bowlee.

The half follows the same route until Owd Betts, when the half then takes a left at the 51-mile mark next to Ashworth Moor Reservoir, before a picturesque descent through Ashworth Valley to School Lane and onto Clay Lane. A diversion takes place through Bamford along Bramley Road and Norford Way before continuing to Heywood along Norden Road and Queen’s Park Road.

Once in Heywood, the tour follows West Starkey Street, George Street and Bridge Street to Pilsworth Road. After travelling the length of Pilsworth Road, the route turns left on Moss Hall Road and Whittle Lane  onto Heywood Old Road to return to Bowlee.

The ride was founded in 2015 by Danny Franks, who rode an 80-mile route, solo, to fundraise for Forever Manchester. In 2016, he joined forces with old school friend Tony Rubins and created the all for charity non-profit Tour de Manc Ltd.

For 2016, Tour de Manc ran a single sportive with two distances: 100 mile 'Full Manc' and 100km 'Half Manc'. The sportive raised several thousands of pounds for Haematology & Transplant Support (HaTS), supporting blood cancer patients at The Christie Hospital and Forever Manchester, funding community projects across Greater Manchester.

The second Tour de Manc in 2017 took place in June in memory of life-long cyclist Chas Collins, who lost his battle with leukaemia shortly before the inaugural ride.