MANCHESTER, Connecticut — Olympian and three-time Manchester Road Race (MRR) winter Weini Kelati will join this year's race, officials announced Monday morning.
Kelati, 27, lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and has won the MRR women's championship for the past three years. She also holds the women's course record of 22:55, which she set during her initial run in 2021. During Kelati's run in 2023, her time was 23:21, and in 2022, her time was 23:39. These are the second and third fastest times ever recorded by a woman runner in the Manchester loop.
A fourth victory this year will give Kelati the MRR record for the most consecutive wins by a woman and place her amongst prestigious runners! Olympic runner Amy Rudolph won the women's race five times (1996, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2002), and Olympian Judi St. Hilaire had four wins (1985, 1988, 1989, and 1992)
Kelati recently earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in June with a thrilling last-lap victory in the 10,000 meters in Oregon. She placed eighth and was the top U.S. finisher in the 10,000-meter finals at the Paris Olympic Games with a time of 30:29:98.
Kelati also set another American record this year, winning the 2024 Houston Half Marathon in 1:06:25.
MRR officials said they are "extremely pleased" that Kelati is returning to defend her title and seek a fourth win.
"She is an amazing athlete who generates a lot of spectator interest and excitement every time she appears in Manchester," said Dr. Tris Carta, president of the Manchester Road Race Committee
The 88th Manchester Road Race, one of America’s largest and most popular turkey trots, will be run at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (November 28, 2024). The race, run on a 4.737-mile loop course through central Manchester, starts and finishes on Main Street in front of St. James Church.
The Manchester Road Race has recently been designated a World Athletics Label Road Race by World Athletics, the international governing body of the sport of track and field. It is one of only 22 road races in the United States, and 298 throughout the world, to receive that recognition this year.
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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