The Manchester Road Race: An Athletic and Cultural Feast Before the Thanksgiving Meal

MANCHESTER, CT — Think about the concept.

It's a nationally renowned athletic event in which the sport's elite can share the same course as people dressed as the main course at dinner later that day.

Welcome to the Manchester Road race. It's part serious road race, part pageantry and definitely a cultural and athletic icon in the state. It turns 80 this year, solidifying the event as the nation's oldest and one of the most prestigious road races in the U.S. The 4.748-mile run takes place on a loop course through the town’s central streets on Thanksgiving Day.

Registration for the Manchester Road Race began Thursday.

The starting gun is at 10 a.m. The race starts and finishes on Main Street in Manchester, in front of St. James Church.

Last year’s Manchester Road Race attracted a field of 13,892 registered runners that included some of the world’s best long distance competitors. Will Geoghegan of Eugene, Oregon won the race with a time of 21:34, two seconds ahead of Glastonbury Olympic steeplechase runner Donn Cabral. Cabral was eighth in the Rio steeplechase final and the third-fastest qualifier.

Diane Nukuri, an Olympic runner from Burundi who trains in Flagstaff, AR, won the 2015 women’s championship in 24:19.

“We’re celebrating our 80th running this Thanksgiving, and we believe the race is going to be very exciting, and a lot of fun for our athletes and spectators,” said Dr. Tris Carta, president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “The size of our field is limited to 15,000 entrants, so we’re urging everyone to register as soon as possible."

The registration fee for entries received before Nov. 7, is $27. Entries submitted thereafter will cost $32.

After the 2015 Manchester Road Race, race officials donated more than $100,000 to area charitable and non-profit organizations. A $20,000 donation was made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The fight against Muscular Dystrophy has been a charitable objective of race sponsors since the early 1950s.

Online registration, and more details about the Manchester Road Race, are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.

A former Olympian and two-time champion at the Manchester Road Race — Cathy Schiro O'Brien —will serve as honorary chairperson this Thanksgiving.

O’Brien won the road race in 1990 and 1991 and set back-to-back course records.

Her 1991 time of 24:06 for the 4.748-mile distance stood as the course standard for 12 years. The current record of 23:59 was set in 2003 by the late Emilie Mondor of Canada.

O’Brien was one of the dominant distance runners of her era. In 1984, when she was a 16-year-old high school junior, she ran the marathon in 2:34 at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The time is still a national junior record.
O’Brien represented the United States in the marathon at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. Her best marathon finish as an Olympian was in 1992, in Barcelona, Spain, where she placed 10th. O’Brien won the Los Angeles Marathon with a time of 2:29.28 in 1991.

Now 49, O’Brien competed at the Manchester Road Race seven times between 1990 and 1996. In addition to her two victories, she had second, third and fourth place performances, and finished fifth twice.

Photo Credit: Tim Jensen