The 90th Manchester Road Race Turns on November 1

"I've said for years, Manchester needs a running store at the start-finish line of the road race," Mayor Jay Moran told the crowd at a Main Street ribbon cutting on September 1. "And we are, what 300 yards away from it?"

He was talking about Run Manchester by Kelley's Pace, which opened that Tuesday at 785 and 789 Main Street. The store gives the Thanksgiving race a full-time address in town for the first time. The 90th running is on November 26. For locals, though, the date that matters most is a Sunday four weeks from today. On November 1 the entry fee goes up, and the option to get your bib in the mail goes away. Anyone who registers after that will be picking up a bib in person, and most of those pickup windows are in Manchester.

A Running Store 300 Yards From St. James

The race starts and finishes on Main Street in front of St. James Church and runs a 4.737-mile loop through the center of town. The new store sits within sight of that line. It's an expansion of the Kelley's Pace shop in Mystic, which is named for Olympian John Kelley, a six-time Manchester Road Race champion. Longtime owner Jeff Anderson runs the Manchester store with Ashley Reichelt, who grew up in town.

"I run up and down Main Street all the time, so when I saw the vacancy, it was meant to be," Reichelt told Patch. Anderson's description of the block was shorter: "It's definitely road race territory." There's a map of Manchester's major running routes by one entrance, and road race posters cover the walls. Downtown Manchester's coverage of the ribbon cutting described the shop as a likely gathering spot for local run clubs.

So far, the group run meets a few blocks away. Kelley's Pace lists a Manchester Thursday Run with the Urban Lodge x Run Manchester Run Club at 6:00 p.m. on October 8. It meets at Urban Lodge Brewing Co., 47 Purnell Place, and the event page calls it a weekly fun run for all paces, every Thursday. If it keeps that schedule, there are seven Thursday evenings between October 8 and Thanksgiving week. That's enough time to run the loop a few times in the dark before running it once in daylight with thousands of other people.

For a more structured plan, Fleet Feet Hartford started a 10-week Manchester Road Race training program on September 19. It meets Saturdays at 8:00 a.m. at the store at 1003 Farmington Avenue in West Hartford and adds casual group runs on Wednesday evenings.

November 1 Closes Two Options at Once

Registration opened September 1. The fee goes up in steps, and the second step lands on the same day as a deadline that has nothing to do with price. Here's the calendar from today, October 4, to race morning:

1. Now through October 31: The entry fee is $37. The $32 early-bird rate ended September 30 at 11:59 p.m.
2. November 1: The fee goes up to $40. This is also the last day to choose the mailed-bib option, which costs $20.
3. November 21 at 4:30 p.m.: The fee goes up to $42.
4. November 24 at 11:59 p.m.: Registration closes. The race doesn't take entries on Thanksgiving Day.
5. November 26 at 10:00 a.m.: The start on Main Street.

The mailing rules are stricter than the fee schedule. You have to register by November 1 and choose mailing to get your bib delivered. Runners who already registered can add mailing through their Race Roster profile before that date. Once you choose mailing, you can't switch back. Bibs set aside for mailing won't be pulled for in-person pickup. Up to five bibs bought in one transaction and going to the same address ship together for a single charge. The race starts printing and mailing bibs in mid-to-late October and keeps going into early November.

Compare the costs. The mailing fee is $20. Waiting past November 1 adds $3 to your entry. Waiting past November 21 adds another $2. If you live near Main Street, the cheapest bib is one you sign up for in October and walk over to get.

There's also a reason not to wait for the last tier. The race committee capped this year's field at 14,000. As of September 23, registrar Dani Kennedy reported 4,076 entries, which she said was ahead of last year's pace. The 2025 race had 12,382 registered runners and walkers. That leaves room for 1,618 more people than last year. Kennedy's advice was to sign up as soon as possible.

Three of the Five Pickup Windows Are in Manchester

The race doesn't hand out bibs on Thanksgiving morning. Everyone who skipped the mailing option, along with everyone who registers after November 1, picks up during one of five sessions on the five days before the race.

The dates and locations together make the plan for latecomers. The Tuesday session at Urban Lodge is the last chance to register and pick up in the same visit, because online registration closes at 11:59 that night. Wednesday at Bennet Academy is only for runners who are already registered. If you're planning on the Saturday expo with kids in tow, go after 10:00 a.m. to miss the Little Manchester Road Race crowd. You'll still have more than six hours to get there.

The 90th Running Rewards Entering the Race Itself

This year the committee added a reason to have a bib in hand, and it only counts on race day. Every registered runner who finishes the course on Thanksgiving morning gets a commemorative medal stamped with the race's winged-foot logo. Virtual Manchester Road Race participants won't get one. "We are urging everyone to register and wear their bibs," said Dr. Tris Carta, president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. He added that the bigger reason is the beneficiaries. This year those are Rebuilding Together of Manchester and Habitat for Humanity of North Central Connecticut, and entry fees support their housing work.

The committee's focus on registration has deep roots. This year's honorary chairperson is Dr. Eamon Flanagan, a Manchester physician and former chief of anesthesiology at Manchester Memorial Hospital. Flanagan helped found the Manchester Road Race Committee in 1977, the year registration problems delayed the start and runners stood in a long line at the finish waiting to have their times recorded. As the committee's first president, a post he held through the 1980s, he brought in hundreds of volunteers, commissioned a chute system to move the growing crowds through the finish, and improved registration and timing. With friends P.J. Tierney, Tim Moriarty, Joe Mullarkey and Pete Keenan, he also recruited Irish elites such as John Treacy and Eamonn Coghlan, which helped make the race an international event. The committee says members of his family will be at the race and the race-week ceremonies.

The front of the field gets more attention too. Each champion now earns $10,000, up from $7,000, and second place pays $5,000, up from $4,000. Edwin Kurgat set the course record of 20:54 last year, the first time anyone finished under 21 minutes. Weini Kelati won her fifth straight women's title in 23:18. She still holds the women's course record of 22:55, set in 2021. Through an athlete exchange with the Great Manchester Run in England, the committee has invited British runners Amy Eloise Neale and Marc Scott to race here on Thanksgiving. Hartford HealthCare is the new presenting sponsor.

Thanksgiving Morning, Block by Block

For runners coming from outside walking distance, the race runs free shuttle buses from the east lot at CT State Community College–Manchester. Buses run continuously from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m. and drop off on Linden Street at Center Memorial Park. Return buses run from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The same page suggests parking on side streets without posted restrictions or in town lots. It warns about congestion at Exit 4 and says not to park on the ramps or on I-384.

The race's own pages disagree on one detail that matters to anyone driving out of a driveway near Main Street that morning. The shuttle and parking page says Main Street closes at 7:00 a.m. The race information page says 5:30 a.m., with intersecting course roads and certain I-384 ramps closing at 9:00 a.m. Plan around the earlier time until the committee confirms which one is right. The official race site is the place to check as race week gets closer.

For more on how race season fits into the rest of the downtown fall calendar, our look at the ten weeks downtown Manchester runs on two different clocks covers the Main Street side, and our Manchester neighborhood page has the wider picture of the town.

Brian Burke and the team at Burke Moves follow Manchester's calendar closely, from the Thursday runs on Purnell Place to the street closures on Main. If you live along the course and are thinking about how Thanksgiving week fits into a spring listing timeline, or you just want to know what your home on a race-route street is worth, request a free home valuation or talk about your move.