FORMER gold medal-winning athlete Steve Cram has unveiled a 30ft high bronze sculpture to celebrate the Spirit of Friendship Festival and the Commonwealth Games.
The sculpture, called "The Runner", is now a dominant feature of the Manchester skyline.
Depicting an athlete on a globe, it takes pride of place outside the new headquarters of the English Institute of Sport at Sportcity, the £135 million sports development in east Manchester which includes the City of Manchester stadium.
The Runner weighs seven tonnes and is the largest bronze sports sculpture in the UK. It was sculpted in eight weeks and cast and finished in three months. It has been commissioned to celebrate the Spirit of Friendship Festival, the most ambitious multi-cultural festival to be linked to a British sporting event.
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