Longtime Manchester Road Race Backbone To Be Posthumously Honored As Honorary Chairperson

MANCHESTER, CT — The late Dr. Eamon Flanagan, an avid runner and local physician who co-founded the Manchester Road Race Committee and initiated many reforms during the late 1970s that helped to reorganize and modernize the Thanksgiving Day run, will be remembered this November.

Race officials announced Monday that Dr. Flanagan, who died in 2023, will be posthumously honored as the Honorary Chairperson of the 2026 Manchester Road Race.

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The race is presented by Hartford HealthCare.

The committee annually recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the road race by selecting him or her as the event's honorary chairperson.

A longtime town resident and former chief of anesthesiology at Manchester Memorial Hospital, Flanagan was a moving force in the creation of the Manchester Road Race Committee in 1977 after participants in the race experienced a number of difficulties.

The start of the 1977 race was delayed due to problems registering the runners, and a long line of athletes formed at the finish line to have their times and placements recorded.

Known for his affable nature, generosity, community spirit and strong organizational skills, the Irish-born Flanagan served as the Manchester Road Race Committee's first president, and held the post throughout the 1980s.

During his tenure, Flanagan recruited hundreds of additional volunteers, commissioned the design of a chute system to efficiently process the growing numbers of runners, and improved registration and timing protocols at the race.

Along with his friends P.J. Tierney, Tim Moriarty, Joe Mullarkey and Pete Keenan, Flanagan also persuaded numerous elite runners from Ireland to compete in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day. Annual appearances by such athletes as Olympic silver medalist John Treacy and indoor mile phenom Eamonn Coghlan, known as the "Irish Connection," helped to transform the event into an international road race that now attracts world-class distance competitors from all around the globe.

In addition to his work on the road race committee, Flanagan volunteered as a physician for many years at Camp Courant and with the Malta House of Care. He also organized the Irish Children's Project, an effort sponsored by St. James Church and St. Mary's Episcopal Church to bring children from Northern Ireland to Manchester for the summer during the 1970s.

"The road race that Manchester enjoys every Thanksgiving exists in large part because of the vision and hard work of Eamon Flanagan," said Dr. Tris Carta, the current president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. "He made incalculable contributions to our race and community, and we will always be grateful for Eamon's awesome spirit and leadership."

Dr. Flanagan's family includes his wife, Sheila Burke Flanagan, a son, Kevin Flanagan, his daughter, Julia Flanagan and her husband Robert Bazata, and his granddaughter Charlotte Gray. Carta said that members of the Flanagan family will attend the road race and race-week ceremonies when Dr. \Flanagan is honored.

The Manchester Road Race presented by Hartford HealthCare will be staged on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26 this year) at 10 a.m. The race starts and finishes on Main Street in front of St. James Church and is run on a 4.737-mile course through the town's central streets.

Online registration and more details are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.