2021 Manchester Road Race Elite Field Includes Champs, Olympians

MANCHESTER, CT — The elite field for the 2021 Manchester Road Race is certainly shaping up to be a good one — as usual. Two former champions will be among the headliners in a talented field of elite runners who have registered to compete in the 85th version of the 4.748-mile race on Thanksgiving Day.

Race officials Wednesday announced that Sam Chelanga, winner at the 2013 MRR, and Edna Kiplagat, who captured the women’s title at the 2019 road race, will compete.

Chelanga, 36, who is now serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, broke the tape in Manchester in 2013 with a time of 21:31. He also finished second at the 2014 MRR in 21:38. In 2010, Chelanga set the NCAA record of 27:08.49 in the 10,000 meters as an All-American competitor for Liberty University.

Kiplagat, one of the world's best distance runners, became the MRR’s oldest champion when she won the 2019 MRR at the age of 40 in 24:30. She also finished fourth in 2016 with a time of 24:34.

The race traditionally draws more than 10,000 runners to Downtown Manchester each Thanksgiving morning. The field ranges from world champions to age group standouts to those in a rearward pack of revelers dressed in who-knows-what. Thousands line the streets to watch.

Other world-class athletes who have entered this year's race include:

• Ben Flanagan, who won the Falmouth Road Race in August with a time of 32:16 and finished eighth at the 2019 MRR in 22:16.
• Drew Hunter, the 2019 USA indoor 2-mile champion who won the national 5K road championship in New York City on Nov. 6 with a time of 13:53.
• Olympian Donn Cabral, who was second at the 2015 MRR and has had seven top-10 finishes in Manchester. Cabral, a graduate of Glastonbury High School who was the NCAA champion in the steeplechase when he competed for Princeton, was the fastest runner (23:00) in last November’s Virtual Manchester Road Race.
• Weini Kelati, who won the women's national 5K road championship in New York City on Nov 6th with a time of 15:18, and Monicah Ngige, the fourth-place finisher at this year’s Boston Marathon who had a fourth-place finish here in 2018 (25:02), are also expected to make strong showings in the women's race.

"Our elite runner coordinator, Jim Harvey, has done a brilliant job of assembling excellent fields of elite runners for our return to Main Street and the celebration of our 85th Manchester Road Race this year," said Dr. Tris Carta, the president of the road race committee. “It is going to be a very exciting road race."

The 85th Manchester Road Race will be held on Thanksgiving Day (November 25, 2021) at 10 a.m. The race starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church.

More details, and on-line registration, are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.