Manchester Road Race 2017 - Best from Mansfield/Storrs

MANCHESTER, CT — The 81st running of America's oldest 5-mile road race (actually, 4.748 miles, but who's counting) turned into one of the most memorable competitions of all time, with a photo finish for the women and a three-way duel for the men's title.

On the other side of the coin was the usual silliness: costumes ranging the full spectrum from The Incredible Hulk and elves to crayons and Santa himself.

In between were literally thousands of competitors - 12,757 racers started, and 11,280 crossed the finish line - striving for personal bests, or merely soaking in the unique atmosphere that is Manchester's alone on Thanksgiving morning.

The world-class athletes got the majority of the publicity - and rightly so - but this story intends to highlight the little heralded - the age division winners - and the unheralded - those who participated from Patch towns in Hartford and Tolland counties.

Here are the age division winners:

• F13 - Peyton Bornstein, Tolland
• M13 - Aidan Puffer, Manchester
• F1418 - Hayley Collins, Tolland
• M1418 - Thomas Arbeiter, Ellington
• F1929 - Buze Kejela, Albuquerque NM
• M1929 - Paul Chelimo, Colorado Springs CO
• F3039 - Molly Huddle, Providence RI
• M3039 - Chris Thompson, England
• F4044 - Renee Tolan, Clifton Park NY
• M4044 - Bernard Lagat, Tucson AZ
• F4549 - Kathleen Shaw, East Hartland
• M4549 - Brian Murray, Coventry
• F5054 - Nancy Fitzgibbon, Rocky Hill
• M5054 - Kent Lemme, Pittsfield MA
• F5559 - Debra Fraser, Willington
• M5559 - Chris Chisholm, Farmington
• F6064 - Susan Dana, West Hartford
• M6064 - Kevin Glenn, Bolton
• F6569 - Rebecca Stockdale-Woolley, Chaplin
• M6569 - Martin Keibel, Manchester
• F7074 - Barrie Robbins-Pianka, Middletown
• M7074 - Tony Hollister, Glastonbury
• F7579 - Lynette Walker, Simsbury
• M7579 - Hal Bennett, Columbia
• F8084 - Joan Youngs, Tolland
• M8084 - Tom Butterfield, Windsor
• F8589 - Anny Stockman, Rensselaer NY
• M8589 - Harvey Goldstein, Natick MA
• F90+ - Sarah Seger, West Suffield

And now, what you've all been waiting for: the top two finishers who reside in Mansfield/Storrs, with their overall place number, and the top Mansfield/Storrs finishers by age division (if they placed in the top 100 of the division).

• Mansfield/Storrs top two - Nathaniel Picard-Busky (168), Sean Edington (244)
• F13 - Victoria Forrest
• F1418 - Emily Kaufman
• F1929 - Annie Morrison
• F4044 - Ashley Mattingly
• F4549 - Megan Thompson
• F6064 - Mary Lee Geary
• F6569 - Susanna Bekman
• F7074 - Diane McCusick
• M13 - Jacob Bernstein
• M1929 - Nathaniel Picard-Busky
• M3039 - Sean Edington
• M4044 - Garrett Kernozicky
• M4549 - Lyle Scruggs
• M5054 - Tyler Morrison
• M5559 - John Hankins
• M6569 - Scott Rhoades
• M7579 - Samuel Pickering

Photo credit: Chris Dehnel