Manchester Half Marathon 2023: how to track runners as they make their way around the city streets

The Manchester Half Marathon is fast approaching, and thousands of runners will be getting ready to head to the start line. Thousands more people will be watching participants as they line up on the city streets.

It can be pretty tricky to keep tabs on the people you are watching during the 13.1 mile event. In some cases, you might have a spot along the route and they’ll be gone and out of sight within seconds. 

If you want to keep a closer eye on whoever you are supporting for the entirety of the race, then you can. Event organisers have outlined three simple ways you can track your friends and loved ones throughout the race, so it’ll almost feel like you’re right beside them (but you don’t need to get hot and sweaty). 

Strava Beacon Feature

Running and exercise app Strava has a feature called Beacon which offers users the option of location tracking. You’ll first need to be connected to your athlete on Strava and then they must start a new run on the app and tap the Beacon icon in the lower right. 

They then pick up three safety contacts who will receive their location during the event. An orange dot will indicate when Beacon is active and give an accurate GPS location which supporters can see on their app.

‘Find My’ app on Apple devices

Apple phones come equipped with a ‘Find My’ app where you can link devices. Simply ask your runner to open the Settings app, tap their name, then tap Find My. They then need to turn on Share My Location. Family Sharing is also an option only to share location with select participants. To find out how to do this, visit the Apple website which has more information. 

Location share on Whatsapp

The person you want to track can also share their location via WhatsApp. They must first enable location permissions for WhatsApp in their phone’s Settings > Tap Apps> WhatsApp > Permissions > Location > Turn on WhatsApp.

They can select from ‘Allow only while using the app,’ ‘Ask every time,’ and ‘Don’t allow.’ from her, they will then be sharing a live location.