Manchester Road Race 2024: The Climb Each Fall

MANCHESTER, CT — The King and Queen of The Hill title is just about this much (finger and thumb and inch apart) below winning the actual Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day.

Race officials award $1,000 incentive bonuses — and the designations of royalty — to the first male and female runners who ascend the race's long Highland Street hill and cross the broad blue stripe that is painted on the road there near the statue of four-time MRR champion Joe McCluskey.

In order to be crowned king or queen of the hill and pocket the prizes, the runners must also place within the top 10 overall finishers in the men’s or women’s divisions.

"It’s basically a race within the race," Manchester Road Race Committee President Dr. Tris Carta said. "Our elite runners and spectators love it.”

Olympian Weini Kelati, a three-time MRR women's champion, has won the Queen of the Hill competition for the past three years in a row. Olympic runner Conner Mantz, who finished second to Morgan Beadlescomb at last year’s road race, was the 2024 King of the Hill.

The race started awarding the $1,000 bonus checks to its fastest hill climbers in 2014. The King and Queen of the Hill competition is sponsored by the Urban Lodge Brewing Company of Manchester.

In other road race news, the race committee was recently notified that the MRR has been designated as a World Athletics Label Road Race for the second straight year by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of track and field. The MRR is one of 22 road races in the United States and 298 throughout the world to receive the prestigious recognition in 2024.

World Athletics awards its labels annually to leading road races around the globe that satisfy a number of requirements, including compliance with rigorous anti-doping testing standards.

The 88th Manchester Road Race will be run at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28 of this year). The race, which is run on a 4.737-mile loop course through Manchester's central streets, starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church.

Last year, 11,060 runners registered for the event, which is regarded as one of America's largest and most popular Turkey Day road races. As of 3 a.m Monday, 5,589 participants had signed up for this year's race.

More details and on-line registration are available 24 hours a day at www.manchesterroadrace.com.