We pride ourselves on celebrating all runners and their achievements.
We are delighted to confirm this year’s prizes in conjunction with our friends and associate sponsors from The Endurance Store and our organising charity Joining Jack.

Our first three male and female runners home in the Half Marathon, 10 miler and 5k races will all receive prizes as follows:

Plus...

Should our winners break the Half Marathon race records set in 2019, they will each get a £50 BONUS PRIZE from Joining Jack. The records are:

Category Winners

Each of our male and female category winners in the Half Marathon and 5k races from our over 40s to over 70s will receive a Joining Jack voucher. Broken down into 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+.

Our junior male and female aged 11-14 years winner and aged 15-17 years in the 5k will also receive a Joining Jack voucher.

A Joining Jack voucher can be redeemed by contacting info@joiningjack.org where you will be entitled to one of the following:

• Entry into the 12th Wigan 10k 2024
• Entry into the HM/5k at Run Wigan Festival 2025 *

* JJ voucher – to be redeemed by May 31st * Free entry to 2025 RWF to correspond with race entered 2024

Teams

Male and female club teams in the Half Marathon and 5k will each receive a Joining Jack voucher (team of 4, one voucher per runner).

Thank you for joining us and helping to make a difference

WOW! What a fantastic day at the 2023 HW Moon Toyota Wigan Run Wigan Festival!

More than 1,600 runners taking part in our Half Marathon, 5k and Family Mile races, hundreds of supporters at our brand new Event HQ, good weather, and a terrific £13,000 raised for our organising charity Joining Jack! We are so thrilled to have raised another amazing total for Team JJ in such challenging times and that's all down to you! Well done and thank you to all our fabulous runners, supporters, fundraisers, volunteers, sponsors and event partners! Thank you for taking part, supporting and being part of another incredible day! Our brand new location over at Mesnes Park proved a big hit and a great party in the park atmosphere for Joining Jack and the running community. We had plenty of people grabbing last minute registrations at the JJ Info Desk taking our final total of runners to more than 1,600!

A huge well done to all our winners on the day including our first man home in the Half Marathon, Blain Rooney from Border Harriers in a time of 1.12.03. Blain couldn't hang around for our official Winners' Presentation with Race Commentator Chris Milow as he had to get home to go on a nightshift at Sellafield! But he did manage to grab his winners' trophy and prize from the main man Jack.

Our first lady back in the Half was Emily Japp in a terrific time of 1.21.05, while in the 5k there were a couple of familiar faces home first with Chris Livesey, from Salford Harriers, in 15.15 and Paiwan Dodd, from St Helens Striders, in 19.05 taking the honours.

A massive shoutout to all our Category and Team Prize winners who will receive their prizes from our associate sponsors The Endurance Store this week. And well done to everyone who signed up and took part, your support is what makes our event the success that it is!

We have been posting pics all week from our fabulous Joining Jack supporters Michelle Charnock Photographer and Gavin Hough, we hope you've managed to spot yourself. And don't forget our official Race Photographer Mick Hall Photos pictures are available to view and purchase HERE.

We are now looking at the date for 2024 - it will be here before we know it! And we'll announce the date once registration is open across our event social media - watch this space!

This year's Run Wigan Festival saw a crack team of 100 volunteers give up their time and support to help at our event, handing out goodie bags and medals at the finish line, helping our runners at the start and finish, distributing water at Fuelling Stations and marshalling our routes.

We also had another group of 20+ fab folks who manned the pre-event bag pack on Thursday. Without these wonderful people our event would not be possible.

The JJ Army are our true super-heroes and make our event the success that it is.

WOW! How good was it to be back?

It had been a long three years between races but we are absolutely delighted to reveal that Sunday's 2022 HW Moon Toyota Wigan Run Wigan Festival raised a terrific £10,000 for our organising charity Joining Jack!

After all the heartbreak of cancelling in 2020, and then never being in a position to stage our awesome event last year, it was amazing to be back at the weekend with another four fantastic races and more than 2,200 runners taking part on the day.!

A £10,000 total for Joining Jack is an amazing achievement, given all the cancellations, deferrals and costs involved over the past COVID-hit two years, which has devastated fundraising for the charity. There was also a real fear that last weekend's event could actually have run at a loss.

Thank you so much to everyone who took part on the day, whether you were running, volunteering, sponsoring or supporting, you are all now (if you weren't before) honorary members of Team JJ!

Congratulations to all our winners on the day, all first three placed male and female runners earn prizes from our event partners The Endurance Store. And for the record the official Roll of Honour for the three main races was:

We have also been in contact with our all Category and Team winners whose efforts have earned them a choice of FREE ENTRY into next year's event (date TBC soon) or one of Joining Jack's other flagship fundraising events in 2022.

Just a little update from Joining Jack and the Johnson family, who many of you know and have met at our event.

Despite shielding for close to two years and avoiding a COVID diagnosis, the family were hit at the worst possible time last week. Jack and his mum and dad, Alex and Andy, all tested positive and were devastated to have to miss out.

That left Jack's younger brother, James, flying the flag running alongside his team mates from Orrell St James Rugby in the final race of the day, the Family Mile. James came in a super second behind his friend and team mate Harry Brown. Well done Harry and James! And Jack, Alex and Andy are all on the road to recovery.

Thank you again to YOU, all our incredible runners for making our event great. Discussions are taking place with our event partners and sponsors and we will confirm next year's date and open registration very soon - watch this space!

Special shout out to our awesome JJ Army

A final very special shout out to our awesome JJ Army. Sunday saw almost 100 volunteers give up their time to help at our event whether it was handing out goodie bags and medals at the finish line, helping our runners at the start and finish, handing out water at Fuelling Stations or marshalling our four routes.

And thanks also to another group of 20+ fab people who manned the pre-event bag pack on Thursday. Without these wonderful people our event would not be possible, thank you!

After two years of heartbreak having to first cancel our event in 2020 and then being unable to put a date in the diary in 202, we are delighted to be back with the 2022 Run Wigan Festival.

To celebrate our return, we are attempting to move towards a paperless event and have created a Digital Racepack to download. The RWF Digital Racepack covers all of our Fab Four races on the day and includes:

• A map of all four race routes (these may be subject to slight change before the race)
• A map detailing car parking (we recommend car parks A, B and E, all of which are free of charge on Sundays. There is also ample on-street parking available)
• Instructions on how to attach your individual timing chip (HM, 10 Miler & 5k only)
• An infographic on where the Half Marathon and 10 Miler races split
• A sponsor form from our organising charity Joining Jack
• Information from our Title sponsors HW Moon Toyota Wigan

All runners will also receive an individual racepack in the post which will include:

• A map of the race route (this may be subject to slight change before the race)
• A runner number
• A timing chip (HM, 10 Miler & 5k only)
• A bag label (HM, 10 Miler & 5k only)
• A sponsor form from our organising charity Joining Jack

Download the Digital Racepack here

We were delighted to team up with our event partners Wigan Warriors this week and head out to Deanery High School to promote this year’s Wigan 5k at the return of the Run Wigan Festival.

The Warriors are calling on High School pupils, aged 11 to 16, to join forces and sign up for this year’s race and we managed to get some time with Assistant Coach and former Wigan and England captain, Sean O’Loughlin along with Warriors starts Liam Farrell and Liam Marshall.

It costs only £13 for runners aged 11 to 16,to register for this year’s Wigan 5k and every penny of that will support research into potential treatments to ease and hopefully one day end Duchenne, the terminal muscle-wasting illness which Jack, himself now 14 and the inspiration behind Joining Jack, is living with.

We think we might see a few pupils taking on their teacher at this year’s race – and most likely beating them. Take a look at the video.

150 days and counting ...

We are absolutely thrilled to confirm that the 2022 Run Wigan Festival, sponsored by HW Moon Toyota Wigan will take place on Sunday, March 20th!

It means our fab four races, courtesy of our organising charity Joining Jack and all starting on the famous Market Street start line are back and registration is OPEN!

After the heartbreak of having to cancel the 2020 event with less than two weeks to go due to the COVID pandemic, and then being unable to stage our event last year, we are over the moon to be back in 2022.

Registration officially opens today which also marks the 150-day countdown to our 2022 event and we can't wait to welcome you back!

It was lovely to see so many runners back for our sister event The Wigan 10k last month and we cannot wait to see even more of our awesome runners back next March, supporting our awesome organising charity, Joining Jack, or any charity or organisation close to their hearts, or simply running for fun.

So whether you are taking on the hills in our flagship Half Marathon race, the terrific 10 Miler, the fab 5k or our personal favourite the fabulous Family Mile, you can save your place today! Sign up HERE!

Thanks again for your support in what have been difficult times for everyone, we can't wait to see everyone back on the start line in March.

Stay safe, see you soon, The RWF Team

We are absolutely thrilled to confirm that the 13 for 13 Virtual Challenge for our organising charity Joining Jack has raised a fantastic £6,500!

The amazing efforts of our fabulous 457 runners completing 13.1 miles to mark the main man Jack's 13th birthday earlier this year and celebrate our blue ribband race - the Wigan Half Marathon at the HW Moon Toyota Wigan Run Wigan Festival - truly did make a difference in March. All the money raised will go straight to Joining Jack to fund research in treatments, and the hope of a potential cure for ALL boys living with Duchenne.

We just wanted to give a big shout out to all our incredible runners who signed up and some who even went on to do extra fundraising helping us raise such an incredible total and to let them know that their hard earned bling is on the way!

Thank you for sending in your photographs and evidence over the past few weeks, please check out our special evidence montage put together by official Team JJ photographer Michelle Charnock Photographer.

Please keep an eye out for the postie in the next couple of days and don't forget to post your pics on social media with the all-important bling and tag us in! Well done everyone!

#TeamJJ #Challengeyourself #13for13 #youmadeadifferenceinmarch

We are absolutely thrilled to unveil the brilliant bling for the Joining 13 for Virtual Challenge!

Following the cancellation of this year’s Run Wigan Festival due to the COVID pandemic, we were asked to support this fantastic challenge to mark the 13th birthday of the main man Jack, the inspiration behind our organising charity Joining Jack and to give a nod to our main race at the Run Wigan Festival – the Half marathon.

If you fancy taking part in the event and getting your hands on one of these marvellous medals, all you have to do is complete 13.1 miles throughout the month of March either on the official Run Wigan Festival Half Marathon route or a route/routes of your choice – it doesn’t have to be completed in one run.

There is no age limit and we are delighted that our event partners and medal designers ADM Design, have paid homage to the inclusive nature of the event within the medal design – the whole family, even the family pet, can take part.

Registration for the event is open until March 31st and medals will be posted out in April – save your place here

Run Wigan Festival 2020 - COVID-19 Coronavirus

The last few weeks have been incredibly stressful for us as a family and for everyone involved with Joining Jack. I want to thank everyone for all their support and patience. This is going to be a very difficult time so please bear with us.

As many of you know, Jack suffers with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He has been identified as being highly vulnerable to COVID-19 Coronavirus and we were told on Monday that he needs to self-isolate for the next 12 weeks.

Even before Monday's guidelines were announced, we had made the difficult decision to remove Jack from school on March 9, and had begun social distancing because of all the uncertainty. We have now had to take social distancing to the next level with complete isolation. As a whole family we have made the decision to self-isolate to be able to protect and support him through the next 12 weeks.

Jack is now not allowed to leave the house and we have to avoid touching him as much as possible. This is so very difficult for us because Jack needs help with most things - like getting dressed and getting up from the floor - and not being able to cuddle and kiss him at a time when all our anxieties are through the roof is unimaginably difficult.

And trying to carry on working full time and home school two children with very different needs last week, left me feeling like I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. I was a wreck.

I am also currently trying to support lots of Duchenne families through this crisis and I am worried about the impact it is having on everyone’s mental health. We have been providing emotional support and advocacy support to families who need it and we are now planning a host of activities alongside with Duchenne UK to support the Duchenne community in the coming weeks.

Jack's Uncle Matt, Race Director and Melanie and Michelle from Joining Jack have been working incredibly hard to reschedule the Run Wigan Festival. Everyone puts their heart and soul into organising JJ's event so it hit us hard as a team having to cancel. Even though the decision was eventually taken out of our hands, we still felt like we were letting everyone down.

We know how hard people have been training and how much everyone was looking forward to event. The run supports lots of charities in raising funds and we know how hard it is going to hit them. Cancelling the run will cost Joining Jack financially but we are determined to make the rescheduled event in September our most successful ever to support Joining Jack and our local community.

As a charity we are working with specialist doctors and healthcare professionals and universities to look at how our funding will impact clinical trials and the research we fund. We will endeavor to support them in any way we can.

Finally, Jack, ever the man to have by your side in a crisis, is going to be sharing videos from his time in isolation. Please follow his journey across the usual Joining Jack social media channels and on JJ's YouTube channel and offer any words of encouragement.

Best Wishes, Alex Johnson

CAR PARK INFORMATION

• Access to The Grand Arcade (Car park 3) will be via Crompton Street
• The Galleries (Car park D) will be open from 8am on race day
• The remaining town centre car parks have 24-hour access

Following on from the success of the first Run Wigan Festival in 2017 Joining Jack was delighted to announce the date for the second one just 48 hours after runners had crossed the finish line.

With the extremely popular and growing Wigan 10k on for the sensational 6th year, we had a brilliant response from the Run Wigan Festival too so thought, why not do it all again? So here we are all set for Sunday 18th March 2018 for the second Run Wigan Festival.

Races will start and finish in our wonderful town centre on Market Street and will take in some of the most popular landmarks Wigan has to offer. There will be live entertainment throughout the day on our main stage in the town centre and of course the European Markets will keep us all fuelled throughout the day.

Matt Johnson, the main organiser of the Wigan 10k and Run Wigan Festival revealed the charity’s thinking behind the decision to plan a second race.

He said: “We just wanted to build on the amazing success of the 10k. We think the people of Wigan and the North-West have really taken the event to their hearts and we are hoping Run Wigan Festival will also grow and create the same incredible atmosphere.

“The 5k race gave runners who perhaps felt the 10k may be a little long for them a chance to get into running and also offered our 10k runners a great fast 5k to include in their training. While the half marathon gave our 10k runners the chance to take the next step.

“The success of the Family Mile was something none of us expected. We had an amazing turn-out of 700 children taking part, some just running for fun, others raising money for charity, it was just brilliant to see so many little ones involved. We can’t wait to welcome everyone again this year and make this event one you wouldn’t want to miss!”

HW Moon Toyota Centre Principal Steven Mather said:

"When we were approached by the Joining Jack family three years ago to be the Principal sponsor of the inaugural Run Wigan Festival we had no hesitation in accepting."

The Joining Jack charity raises vital funds for research projects into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Jack’s parents work tirelessly through the charity to raise awareness of this debilitating disease and have worldwide recognition and particular relevance in Wigan as this is where Jack is from and where his father Andy played professionally for the Wigan Warriors.

"HW Moon Toyota have a long history in the town and are well established sponsors of the Wigan Warriors, so it felt very natural to become part of this fantastic community event. We are now proud to say we are a ‘Friend of Jack’ and the Joining Jack charity. Our Challenge Way location even features on the half marathon route, providing necessary rehydration at the water station and encouragement from our staff to all the runners. This year we had staff participation in all the running distances and sore legs the following day as proof!

Having completed our third year of sponsorship we have enjoyed how the event has grown and developed and how it has become part of the Wigan town calendar. As well as the half marathon, 10 Mile and 5k races for the more serious athletes there is focus on community health and family fun through participation in the Family Mile with everyone able to come together to enjoy the fantastic entertainment provided in the town centre.

We look forward to the continued success of the Run Wigan Festival and are happy to announce our continued support as principal sponsor."

Joining Jack www.joiningjack.org is a charity founded by Alex and Andy Johnson, the parents of a then four-year-old Jack Johnson, after he was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a debilitating muscle-wasting disease for which there is currently no cure.

Jack was diagnosed in October 2011, at the tender age of three. Failing a medical breakthrough, Jack’s life will follow a predetermined path, mapped out by the wasting of his muscles.

He will no longer be able to walk by the time he reaches adolescence and will lose the use of every single muscle in his body thereafter. He may need spinal rods to keep him upright and ventilation to help him breath. Eventually his heart and lungs will fail and he will die.

Joining Jack was born four months after Jack’s diagnosis with the sole aim of finding a cure. All money raised is used to spread awareness of the horrible disease which affects approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide.

Thanks to some amazing support from their local community and the rugby and sporting world, the charity has raised more than £2million which has been invested in research and has funded a number of clinical trial posts to give the Duchenne community real hope that a cure or at least a treatment which will slow down the boys’ decline, is within touching distance. Any profit raised from your registration for this year’s race will go the charity. Runners can raise money for Joining Jack or any charity they feel close to or they can simply run for fun.