Holly’s Hearts Runners gearing up for AJ Bell Great Manchester Run

A mixed, all-abilities, running group was set up in August 2024, with the aim of raising funds for Holly’s Hearts UK and this is the second group to take on the ‘Couch to Half Marathon’ challenge.

Today (Sunday) 35 of the group’s runners will be on the start line for the half marathon as part of the AJ Bell Great Manchester Run, with several doing the 10K run too.

Holly’s Hearts was set up in memory of Holly Prince, the daughter of Mark and Westhoughton High School teacher Jenny Prince, who died from childhood cancer, Bloom Syndrome, when she was just 5 years old.

The charity provides gifts and experiences to children with cancer and their families.

Both Mark and Jenny were part of the 2025 cohort and ran last year’s event.

Mark, co-founder of Holly’s Hearts said: “I can’t tell you how special it is to see so many people running for Holly.”

His wife and co-founder Jenny said: “If you knew Holly, she was the little girl who ran everywhere and was always 100 miles an hour in what she did.”

Last year they raised over £22,500 as a group after starting out as strangers, developing as friends and supporting each other throughout.

Some of the group were new to running and most struggled to run for one minute when they started in August.

Since then they have completed group milestones of a 5K parkrun, 10K Run Through event at Tatton Park and the “Holly Prince 10 miler”, where Mark and Jenny were on hand with the medals at the finish line.

The coaches are all volunteers and the support they provide to all runners is invaluable.

Tracey, who founded Holly’s Heart’s Runners, said: “It’s been a true honour to watch each runner grow and develop from complete novices into strong and confident athletes.”

You can make a donation via Just Giving at justgiving.com/campaign/hollysheartsrunners