The 2026 Easter Weekend sees the return of one of the most popular athletics events on the Manx calendar, the Easter Festival of Running.

The series, which takes place from Friday, 3 April to Sunday, 5 April will see three races take place across three days with hundreds expected to take part.

What's more, organisers have seen huge demand for this year's meeting with more than 770 pre-entries in total and roughly two-thirds of those involving participants and teams from off-Island.

To find out more about this year's event, we sat down with festival organiser, Chris Quine and Isle of Man athletics correspondent, Dave Griffiths.

They explain what makes this occasion so well sought after and which competitors are possibly the ones to watch out for across the three days

Match highlights of the NWCFL Premier Division clash between FC Isle of Man and City of Liverpool at The Bowl in Douglas

'The Ravens' started the weekend needing only to avoid defeat to secure league safety against a City of Liverpool team requiring a win to keep their survival hopes alive

Match commentary from Rob Pritchard and Darren Timson

On tonight's program:

Results, reaction and analysis to all the latest local football, rugby, hockey across the Isle of Man plus we look ahead to FC IOM's Game at home.

we also bring you the Hospital Cup draw as well as the Junior Cup draw.

Ben Cunningham is joined by Tony Mepham, Karl Gartland and Dave Christian.

On tonight's programme:

• Bottom versus top in the Canada Life Men's Premier League and the opening ties of this year's Canada Life Women's FA Cup are among this weekend's upcoming football clashes
• In rugby, it could be now or never for Douglas in their play-off hunt in Regional 2 North West; Vagabonds and Ramsey are both on the road in Counties 3 ADM Lancashire/Cheshire and Vagabonds Ladies are on home territory in Women's NC2 North (South)
• Meanwhile, no fewer than four league titles remain there for the taking on Saturday in what will be the finale to the 2026 Isle of Man hockey league season
• And with demand already around record levels, we hear from the organiser of this year's Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running which takes place over three days next week

This week featuring Tony Mepham, Dave Christian, Ben Cunningham and Chris Quine

Match highlights of the NWCFL Premier Division clash between FC Isle of Man and Cheadle Town at The Bowl in Douglas

Hoping to turn things around after back-to-back home defeats, 'The Ravens' hosted a Cheadle Town side hoping to build some momentum after one win in their last five

Match commentary from Rob Pritchard and Darren Timson

On tonight's program:

We catch up with ARA Secretary Neal Champion looking ahead to the start of the 2026 Andreas Racing Association Championships in the north of the Island.

Also Results, reaction and analysis to all the latest local football, rugby, hockey across the Isle of Man and we look ahead to FC IOM's Game at home.

Ben Cunningham is joined by Tony Mepham, Dave Christian.

On tonight's programme:

1. The current top two in men's football meet in the Ecap FA Cup semi-finals as part of this weekend's Isle of Man clashes
2. We hear from the new two-time Manx boxing champion following his latest success in Australia in the last week
3. In rugby, Douglas face one of their Regional 2 North West play-off rivals; both Vagabonds teams return to action and it's South vs North in the Hartford Homes Manx Cup
4. Several league titles remain up for grabs going into the penultimate weekend of the 2026 Isle of Man men's and ladies hockey season
5. And racing action returns to Jurby this weekend for the start of this year's ARA Championship calendar

This week featuring Tony Mepham, Sam Rennie, Dave Christian, Ben Cunningham and Neal Champion

The Isle of Man is known for it's ability to continuously produce top talent in motorsport, and for a young man from Port Erin, he's taking another step forward towards a big dream in 2026.

Racing driver, Nickolas Ellis starts another exciting chapter in his career this year when he takes on the Lugier European Series.

What's more, he'll be under the expert guidance of a three-time Le Mans 24 Hour champion for the duration of the campaign.

After stepping back from racing in 2025 to focus on his studies, Ellis now has his sights firmly set on a good season ahead, and - as he's been explaining to Manx Radio - he holds some big ambitions in his sport in the long-term