Running for Greatness: Olivia Nicholson

As this year’s AJ Bell Great Manchester Run weekend approaches – we’re shining a spotlight on some of our inspiring participants who are running for more than the medal when they lace up on Sunday 18th May.

Meet 18-year-old Olivia, each step of her 10k journey will carry far more than athletic ambition – it carries memory, love, and purpose.

Olivia’s dad was just 33 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. For the next nine years, he fought bravely – not just for himself, but for his family. Olivia who was only a little girl when his fight began grew up learning strength, not from words, but from watching her father’s actions every single day.

In 2020, when Olivia was just 13, her father passed away aged 42. The pain of losing him at such a young age built something fierce within her – a quiet promise that one day she’d honour the man who shaped her.

Throughout his treatment, Olivia and her family found solace at The Christie, one of the UK’s leading cancer centres in Manchester. There, amidst the harshness of chemotherapy and the relentlessness of radiotherapy, were people who cared – doctors and nurses who treated him with not just medicine, but kindness, dignity, and humanity.

“Their love, care and compassion helped my dad through his darkest moments,” Olivia says. “They made the unbearable, bearable.”

Now, she’s giving back. Olivia is running the Great Manchester 10k to raise money for The Christie, and to make sure other families, like hers, continue to receive the love and care they so desperately need. Her run is a thank you – and a tribute.

On race day, the streets of Manchester will echo with footsteps – but for Olivia, her father’s memory will be louder in her heart and mind as she takes on the route through our second city.
“I just want to make him proud,” she says. “This is for him.”

And without a doubt, she will.

The Great Manchester Run Half Marathon is now sold out and remaining places for the 10K are expected to sell out shortly, so enter now to secure your spot on the famous start line.