2 Distance Icons Commit to Manchester Road Race

MANCHESTER, CT — Manchester Road Race officials on Tuesday announced that Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat and national record holder Molly Huddle have entered the 4.748-mile race, and will compete in a talent-laden field of other elite athletes who are coming to Manchester from around the globe.

Lagat, 42, is a five-time Olympian who won the bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2000
Sydney Olympic Games and was the silver medalist in that event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Lagat has won four world championships and holds several American distance records. His 1,500-meter time of 3:26.34 is the second fastest time ever run for that distance. This is Lagat’s first appearance at the
Manchester Road Race.

Huddle, a former Notre Dame All-American, has won 25 national running titles and holds the
United States record of 30:13.17 for 10,000 meters.

The 33-year-old is returning to Manchester after a 10-year absence. She placed fourth at the 2007 MRR. Huddle won the USATF 5-Kilometer Road Race National Championship on November 4th in New York City with a time of 15:24.

Lagat will be challenged by another Olympic medalist, Paul Chelimo, who placed fourth at last year’s MRR with a time of 21:36. Chelimo, 26, is a member of the United States Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

He won the silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and
was the bronze medalist in that event last summer at the World Championships in London.

Also expected to be among the lead pack in the men’s division are 2015 MRR Champion Will
Geoghegan, two-time U.S. Olympian Donn Cabral of Glastonbury, Jamaican Olympian Kemoy Campbell,
Australian Olympic runner Sam McEntee, last year’s third place finisher Chris Thompson of Great Britain
and Olympian Hassan Mead. Mead, Lagat and Chelimo competed against each other in the 5000 meters
finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Eilish McColgan, a British Olympian and Scottish record-holder in the 3000 meters steeplechase, is
also returning to Manchester this Thanksgiving. She finished in fifth place at last year’s MRR with a time
of 24:39. McColgan won the bronze medal in the 3000 meters at the 2017 European Indoor
Championships.

Other elite females who have entered this year’s road race include: Olympic marathoner Desiree
Linden, Lindsay Flanagan, a silver medalist in the marathon at the 2015 Pan American Games, French 5,000 meters record holder Liv Westphal, Ethiopian distance runner Buse Diriba, and four-time NCAA champion Molly Seidel.

“We are extremely excited that so many great elite athletes have entered this year,” said Dr. Tris
Carta, president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “We’re predicting a very exciting and
competitive road race.”

The 81st Manchester Road Race will start at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23). The
race starts and finishes on Main Street in Manchester, in front of St. James Church.

On-line registration and more details about the race are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.

Photo Credit: Bernard Lagat (center) edged Hassan Mead (left) and Paul Chelimo (right) in the 5,000 meters finals at the 2016 U.S Olympic Trials. All three Olympians will be competing this year at the 2017 Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day. (U.S. Army Photo by Tim Hipps). Molly Huddle will run in the 2017 Manchester Road Race again this Thanksgiving after a 10-year hiatus’. Huddle, who has won 25 national running championships and holds the American record for 10,000 meters, placed fourth at the 2007 MRR. (Copyright Manchester Road Race. Photo by John Long).