Flanagan, Kelati Power Their Ways To Manchester Road Race Wins

MANCHESTER, CT — Weini Kelati blew away the women's field at the 85th Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving morning with a new women's course record, and Ben Flanagan took a huge lead into the final three-quarters of a mile and paced himself to a healthy overall win.

Flanagan's time was a quick 21:23, about seven seconds off the course record set by Edward Cheserek in 2019.

Meanwhile, Kelati became the first woman to break 23 minutes on Manchester's challenging 4.748-mile course with a time of 22:55. She smashed the previous women's race record of 23:57, set by Buze Diriba in 2017.

Sam Chelanga won the men's King of the Hill competition, being first to reach Highland Park Market, but Flanagan immediately surged and took a comfortable lead by the turn onto Porter Street.

By Mile 4, Flanagan had a lead of at least 100 yards and no other woman was in sight of Kelati, who was drafting a pair of men on the straightway before making her final move for the descent down Main Street.

At 37 degrees and with very little wind, the conditions were near-perfect at race time.

Kelati, a native of the northeast African country of Eritrea, now hails from Flagstaff, Arizona and is a U.S. citizen. While at New Mexico, she was an NCAA champion in cross country and the 10,000 meters.

Flanagan, a native of Canada, was also an NCAA 10,000-meter champion while at Michigan. He is also a two-time winner of the Falmouth Road Race. He now hails from Charlottesville, Virginia.

See the complete race results here.