Elite Field Shaping Up For 88th Version Of Manchester Road Race

This year's Manchester Road race will feature several Olympians and world-class runners, who will join others clad in turkey suits, tutus, college gear and pilgrim costumes in a field expected to exceed 11,000 on Thanksgiving morning.

This year marks the 88th version of the famed race. The annual 4.737-mile run through Manchester's central streets, regarded as one of America's largest and most Turkey Day events, will start at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning (Nov. 28) on Main Street in Manchester, in front of St James Church.

Organizers said large crowds of spectators are expected to view the race, which is one of only 22 in the United States, and 298 in the world, designated as a World Athletics Label Road Race by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of track and field.

Defending champion and Olympian Weini Kelati of Flagstaff, Arizona has entered the race. Kelati has won the MRR women’s title for the past three years, and a fourth victory this Thanksgiving will set the record for most consecutive wins by a female competitor. A 13-time All American runner at the University of New Mexico who finished eighth last summer in the 10,000 meters finals at the Paris Olympic Games, Kelati set the MRR women's course record of 22:55 in 2021 during her first Manchester appearance.

Kelati won the women's race in Manchester last November with a time of 23:21 and finished 19th in the overall competition. She will be joined in the elite field this Thanksgiving by Annie Rodenfels, the 2023 runner-up, and 2019 winner and marathon great Edna Kiplagat.

Former champions Ben Flanagan (2021) and Sam Chelanga (2013), Kenyan Olympian Edwin Kurgat, who placed seventh in the 5,000 meters finals at the Paris Olympics, and Andrew Colley, the fourth place-finisher in Manchester in 2022 with a time of 21:07, are expected to lead the men’s elite field.

As of early Monday morning, more than 9,000 runners had registered for this year's race.

posted Monday November 11th
by Chris Dehnel