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Lead Stories: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Manchester Road Race Establishes Trophy in Crothers’s Honor

Posted September 26th, 2008 at 5:34 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Organizers of the Manchester Road Race have established a new trophy in honor of the late Ray Crothers, who died of cancer last February at the age of 65. Starting this year, the top finisher in the men’s over-60 division will receive the Ray Crothers Memorial Trophy.

Crothers won the Manchester Road Race in 1965 and also captured the high school division twice in 1959 and ‘60. Compiling an impressive long-term record at the event, he finished in the top-25 14 times between 1959 and 1980. He also won the over-40 bracket in 1984. Despite being gravely ill, he walked the 4.748 course last November.
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Marathon World Champions Headed for Manchester

Posted May 7th, 2008 at 1:30 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Organizers of the BUPA Great Manchester Run on May 18 announced today that reigning world marathon champions Luke Kibet and Catherine Ndereba (Pictured) will headline their fields.

The two Kenyans earned their world titles in the steamy conditions of Osaka last August. Kibet overwhelmed the men’s field by one minute and 19 seconds, while Ndereba had to beat back a formidable challenge from China’s Zhou Chunxiu in the final kilometers to win by a much narrower eight seconds.

Most recently, Kibet raced the Flora London Marathon, finishing 11th. His training was curtailed by the post-election violence in Kenya where he was assaulted, sustaining a head wound from a thrown rock. Ndereba did not run a spring marathon, but has run several road races. She won the Scotia Bank Semi-Marathon de Montreal on April 20 and was most recently second at the Lilac Bloomsday 12-K in Spokane, Wash., last Sunday.
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Pavey To Defend Great Manchester Run Title

Posted April 15th, 2008 at 2:45 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Briton Jo Pavey plans to defend her title at the BUPA Great Manchester Run set for Sunday, May 18, in Manchester, England, organizers announced today.

Pavey, fourth over 10,000m at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, will again face road running specialist Anikó Kálovics of Hungary, whom she beat by just one second at last year’s Great Manchester Run, 31:47 to 31:48. Pavey is currently warm weather training in Dullstroom, South Africa, and will come down from altitude several days before the Manchester race.

Race organizer, Nova International, reported that two-time world marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba, would also compete.
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Ray Crothers Remembered

Posted March 5th, 2008 at 10:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Ray Crothers, who won the Manchester Road Race in 1965, passed away last Thursday from melanoma. He was 65.

Crothers not only won Manchester, but was a category winner at the high school level and the masters level. Amby Burfoot, who won Manchester nine times, has posted a remembrance of Crothers on his blog at this link:

http://footloose.runnersworld.com/2008/02/ray-graduated-f.html

It’s a good read on a man worth remembering.
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Megan Metcalfe Third in Manchester Road Race

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 1:34 PM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results

Canadian and Pan Am Games Champion Megan Metcalfe (CAN/New Balance) finished third at the 71st running of the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, CT on Thanksgiving Day. Metcalfe, who lowered her 5k best in 2007 to 15:15.73, crossed the line in 24:53, one second shy of 2nd place. In the men’s race, 2007 Canadian 5000 meter champion Reid Coolsaet (CAN/Rbk) used the race to break up his winter training and finished 7th.

In other road race action, American record holder Nicole Teter (USA/Nike Oregon Track Club) stepped way up in distance at the Silicon Valley 5k to finish 6th overall in a new personal best, while Melissa Cook (USA/New Balance) ran to an easy victory in Houston’s Run Thru the Woods 5-miler.
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Letherby, Begley Win 71st Manchester Road Race

Posted November 22nd, 2007 at 9:25 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Andrew Letherby of Australia and Amy Begley of Beaverton, Ore., won today’s 71st running of the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, Conn.

For the 34 year-old Letherby it was his second Manchester victory. He also won the 4.78 mile race in 2002, and remains the only Australian to race to victory at Manchester. His time today of 21:54 was nine seconds faster than his 2002 winning mark, but only one second up on Irishman Martin Fagan who took second.

U.S. steeplechaser Brian Olinger of Westerville, Ohio, took third in 22:00, while defending champion, Ian Dobson of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., was fourth in 22:03.
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Dobson and Bairu to Return to Manchester Road Race

Posted October 26th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results

The top two finishers from last year’s Manchester Road Race will compete there again this Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22. Ian Dobson and Simon Bairu have both entered the 71st Manchester Road Race, race officials announced last week.

Dobson, a nine-time All-American at Stanford University, won last year’s race in 21:39. He finished one second ahead of Bairu, a Canadian citizen who starred at the University of Wisconsin. Bairu was the NCAA cross country champion in both 2004 and 2005.
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Olympic Champion
Frank Shorter To
Speak In Manchester

Posted October 19th, 2007 at 4:24 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results

The Manchester Road Race Committee will sponsor a speech by Olympic Marathon Champion Frank Shorter on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 7 p.m. at Manchester Community College’s SBM Auditorium.

Shorter, an All-American long distance runner at Yale University, won the marathon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Four years later, he captured the silver medal in the marathon at the Montreal Olympics.

Shorter, who is widely credited with helping to spark the “running explosion” that has occurred in the United States during the past three decades, is the honorary chairperson of the 71st Manchester Road Race. He is also expected to compete in the annual Thanksgiving Day event.
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