Running Legend Commits To His 57th Straight Manchester Road Race

MANCHESTER, CT — Running legend and nine-time champion Amby Burfoot has committed to run in the Manchester Road Race for the 57th year in a row, race officials announced Tuesday.

Burfoot, 73, first competed in Manchester in 1963, when he placed 14th and won the high school division as a senior at Fitch High School. He has run every Thanksgiving morning since then and his string of 56 straight appearances is already the record for most consecutive races.

He'll add another year to that streak when he crosses the Main Street finish line as expected this year.

Burfoot was a track and cross country star at Wesleyan University in Middletown and won the Boston Marathon in 1968.

(Manchester Herald courtesy of the MRR)

Often wearing his signature painter’s cap, he finished first at the Manchester Road Race a record nine times between 1968 and 1977. Seven of those victories (1971-1977) were in a row. Overall, Burfoot placed among the top 15 runners at the MRR on 18 occasions between 1963 and 1982.

(Manchester Herald courtesy of the MRR)

Burfoot resides in Mystic with his wife, Cristina. He is an editor emeritus with Runner's World magazine and has authored a number of books about his sport.

The 83rd edition of the Manchester Road Race will be run at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28, 2019). The 4.748-mile race is run on a loop course through Manchester’s central streets and starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church.

More information and on-line registration forms are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.