MANCHESTER — Amby Burfoot has a need for speed, and there’s no slowing him down now.
Burfoot, who is 73 years old, first competed in the Manchester Road Race in 1963 when he placed 14th and also won the high school division as a senior at Fitch High School.
Race officials say he’s run every Thanksgiving morning since then, and his string of 56 straight appearances is already the record for most consecutive races. Race officials say Burfoot has indicated that he will also be running in this year’s 83rd Manchester Road Race.
A track and cross-country star at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Burfoot won the Boston Marathon in 1968. Often wearing his signature painter’s cap, he finished first at the Manchester Road Race a record nine times between 1968 and 1977. Seven of those victories (1971-1977) were in a row. Overall, Burfoot placed among the top 15 runners at the MRR on 18 occasions between 1963 and 1982.
The 83rd Manchester Road Race will be run at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (November 28, 2019). The 4.748-mile race is run on a loop course through Manchester’s central streets and starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church. More information and on-line registration forms are available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.
