Manchester's 90th Road Race Takes Over Main Street for a Week. Here's How It Plays Out.

The entry fee for the Manchester Road Race goes up on Sunday, November 1. Bib pickup is Saturday, November 21. The race itself starts at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving, November 26, in front of St. James Church on Main Street. Online registration closes two days before the race, and nobody can sign up on race day.

This is the 90th running, and the committee has made changes that reward people who plan ahead. If your Thanksgiving morning includes running the loop, walking it with family, or just getting across town, the dates below matter more than the start gun.

The dates that come before the race

The race committee's September 24 announcement laid out a fee schedule that climbs as Thanksgiving gets closer. The $32 early-bird price ended September 30.

The field is capped at 14,000 runners this year. Last year 12,382 people registered. By the night of September 23, registrar Dani Kennedy had counted 4,076 entries and said the race was ahead of the same point last year. The fee steps are the clearest reason not to wait.

Saturday, November 21, belongs to Manchester High

Race week really starts five days before Thanksgiving, at Manchester High School. The Road Race Saturday schedule puts most of the logistics on that one day:

• Health and fitness expo, 8:30 a.m. to noon
• Bib pickup and walk-in registration, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Race tee-shirt sales, until 1 p.m.
• Little Manchester Road Race, 10 a.m.

The kids' race is the part families tend to put on the calendar. It's free for children 12 and under, offers five distances, and is limited to 1,000 runners. Organizers ask each family to bring two nonperishable food items for MACC. The 4:30 p.m. close of walk-in registration is also the minute the adult fee jumps to $42, so Saturday afternoon is the last chance to sign up in person at the lower price.

Thanksgiving morning, hour by hour

On race day, Main Street closes at 5:30 a.m. and stays closed until about 11:30 a.m. The race information page gives the rest of the schedule:

1. 9:00 a.m. Every road that crosses the course closes. Once that happens, nobody can drive into or out of the area inside the loop until the race is over.
2. 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. These I-384 exit ramps next to the course are closed: Westbound Exit 5 at Highland Street, Westbound Exit 4 at Charter Oak Street, Eastbound Exit 4 at Main Street, and Eastbound Exit 5 at Wyllys Street.
3. After 11:30 a.m. Normal traffic should come back.

That 9 a.m. closing matters if you're hosting. Guests who need to cross the course for a holiday meal, or who live inside the loop, have a firm cutoff. The house you're driving to may be easy to reach at 8:45 and impossible to reach at 9:05.

The morning also has an earlier, quieter event. Veterans' Row holds a reception from 8:15 to 9:30 a.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 489 Main Street, and a path-of-honor tribute lines the course.

What the 90th running adds

Every registered runner who finishes the in-person race on Thanksgiving gets a commemorative medal stamped with the race's winged-foot logo. People entered in the Virtual Manchester Road Race don't get one. The race also has a new presenting sponsor, Hartford HealthCare. At the front of the field, the men's and women's winners will each take home $10,000.

The committee is also honoring Dr. Eamon Flanagan, who died in 2023, as honorary chairperson. He was a longtime Manchester physician who helped found the Manchester Road Race Committee in 1977 and served as its first president through the 1980s. During those years he recruited hundreds of volunteers and set up the chute system and timing methods that let the race grow. With friends, he also brought over the "Irish Connection" runners, including John Treacy and Eamonn Coghlan, who helped turn a local Thanksgiving run into an international race. His family is expected at the race and at the race-week ceremonies.

The charity side comes back to town. This year's main beneficiaries are Rebuilding Together of Manchester and Habitat for Humanity of North Central Connecticut. Most of the unallocated proceeds go to those two groups, and a smaller share is set aside for other local charities. In the committee's announcement, race president Dr. Tris Carta tied the medal and the cause together:

"We are urging everyone to register and wear their bibs. You'll earn a medal, but much more importantly you will be supporting the tremendous work that both of these organizations do to provide accessible and affordable housing for our neighbors."

So the bib does two things this year. It gets you the medal at the finish, and the fee you paid for it goes to two organizations that repair and build homes here in town.

The Main Street the race returns to

The loop starts and finishes on a Main Street that looks different than it did last Thanksgiving. On September 14, the new Manchester Public Library opened at 1041 Main Street. State Rep. Geoff Luxenberg attended the opening, and in his newsletter about it he called the building "the first net-zero library in the state," with internet access, private study rooms and an audio-visual studio. The town's library page lists hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The old Mary Cheney Library closed to the public after August 8 so the move could begin, Patch reported in July. That building at 586 Main Street is now the subject of a town request for proposals. The town is looking for one use or a mix of uses that would make it a downtown community asset, and any plan has to keep the full exterior. Proposals were due October 15, and no chosen use had been announced as of mid-October.

Downtown has had a busy November all along. The Little Theatre of Manchester's run of The Prom plays Cheney Hall from November 6 to 22. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, with an added matinee November 14. That same Saturday, 2nd Saturdays brings art, music and food to WORK_SPACE at 903 Main Street. Cheney Hall also has a staged reading of The Day the President Came to Town on Monday, November 9, at 7 p.m.

The two days after

Race week runs past Thanksgiving. On Friday, November 27, the 40th Ray Crothers Blood Drive runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Manchester High School, and organizers are aiming for 400 pints. On Saturday, November 28, Downtown Manchester's Holiday on Main brings Santa and Mrs. Claus, a snow globe, an igloo photo spot, crafts, games and small-business shopping to the same street the runners covered two days earlier.

So the whole week runs from Saturday the 21st to Saturday the 28th, with Manchester High at the start, Main Street in the middle, and Manchester High and Main Street again at the end. The simplest early step is registering before the fee changes on November 1.

Running, walking, or watching from the curb with coffee, I hope you enjoy the 90th. If race week has you thinking about a move within Manchester, or helping a parent leave a longtime home nearby, I'm glad to talk it through on your schedule. Thanksgiving morning is off-limits, since Main Street will be closed anyway. Shelby Muraski is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.