News Releases
REGISTRATION FOR MANCHESTER ROAD RACE OPENS SEPT. 1ST; RUNNERS WILL MAKE STRIDES TO FIGHT FOOD INSECURITY (August 14, 2025)
Registration for the 89th Manchester Road Race opens on September 1st, and race organizers said today that the thousands of runners who are expected to compete in it will all be making strides to alleviate hunger in Connecticut.
Dr. Tris Carta, President of the Manchester Road Race Committee, announced that food insecurity will be the primary charitable focus of this year’s road race, which will be held at 10 a.m. in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day (November 27, 2025).
According to Carta, the race committee voted to suspend in 2025 its practice of annually awarding grants from the event’s net proceeds to a number of diverse charities and non-profit organizations. Instead, those funds will be earmarked this year for two organizations that provide food to those in need, Connecticut Foodshare and Manchester Area Conference of Churches Charities.
Connecticut Foodshare is a food bank serving the people of Connecticut, and is a member of Feeding America’s nationwide network. It distributes healthy food through a network of more than 650 food pantries, community kitchens and meal programs and operates mobile food distribution centers across the state.
MACC Charities operates a “Community Kitchen’ serving lunches during the week and an emergency food pantry that distributes groceries.
“There is a pressing need at Connecticut’s food banks right now, and we’re hoping that our road race can make a substantial contribution to address it,” Carta said.
Carta also indicated that the committee has designated MACC Charities as the beneficiary of the road race’s annual Honors Club Program. Each year, the race sets aside bibs for up to 120 runners who each pay $100, instead of the traditional entry fee. All of those funds are donated to a single designated charity, which this year will be MACC Charities.
This year’s entry fee will remain $32 for runners who sign up on-line at www.manchesterroadrace.com prior to 11:59 pm EST on Sept 30. The entry fee subsequently increases to $37 on October 1st and to $42 on November 22.
Registration for the race will close completely on November 25, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST. No entries will be accepted on the day of the race.
Runners will once again have the option to either pick up their bibs in person, or have them delivered. The race committee has scheduled a number of times and dates prior to the race when bibs can be picked up in person at no additional cost. Details about the schedule and locations of the in-person pickup dates, and the fee that will be charged for delivery, will be available at www.manchesterroadrace.com when registration opens on September 1st.
Race officials are reminding runners that there will not be bib pickup on the morning of the race.
“We’ve been working on plans for this year’s race since last winter, and we believe it is going to be another world-class event,” Carta said. “We anticipate another exciting race with a large field, and we are urging everyone to register as soon as they possibly can."
Carta also said that race officials are once again offering a Virtual Manchester Road Race option for those who can’t attend the event in person. Participants can download a GPS-enabled app to their smartphones and have their times recorded as they run the MRR course distance at any location in the world.
On-line registration for the virtual run also begins on Sept. 1st and closes on Nov.25th. The registration fee is $30 and more information is available at www.manchesterroadrace.com.
Approximately 400 volunteers from the Manchester Road Race Committee organize the annual Thanksgiving Day Run, with support from the Town of Manchester.
MRR MOURNS PASSING OF DAVE HOLMES (May 13, 2025)
The Manchester Road Race Committee is mourning the passing of longtime volunteer David R. Holmes of Manchester.
Dave, who was 69, volunteered at the race every Thanksgiving morning since 1976, and was a captain and mainstay of the team at the start/finish line.
“He will be terribly missed,” said Dr. Tris Carta, President of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “We are deeply grateful for the many contributions Dave made during his nearly 50 years of devoted service to the road race, and we extend our sincere condolences to all the members of the Holmes family.”
DR. TRIS CARTA HONORED BY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (March 27, 2025)
Dr. Tris Carta, President of the Manchester Road Race Committee, was honored by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce at its 124th annual meeting on March 27th.
Doctor Carta, a Manchester dentist who has led the road race committee since 2007, received the Chamber’s Community Achievement Award. He was recognized for his “commitment to his profession and community” and “the enduring impact” which his contributions to the MRR have had on the Town of Manchester.
In accepting the award, Doctor Carta paid tribute to all the volunteers who assist at the annual Thanksgiving Day run. “I am sharing this award with every member of the Manchester Road Race Committee," he said. “I believe that I have the best job in Manchester leading an incredible team with the singular mission of making this race better every year.”
MRR ANNOUNCES 100K IN CHARITABLE DONATIONS (March 14, 2025)
The Manchester Road Race Committee announced today that it will make charitable donations totaling $100,250 from the proceeds of last year’s Thanksgiving Day run to 18 charities and non-profit organizations.
“We are sincerely grateful to our runners, financial sponsors, volunteers, and spectators,” said Dr. Tris Carta, President of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “Thanks to them, we held another highly successful road race last November, and we are able to make these donations to the groups that do such great work assisting our community.”
Carta said that the committee was able to increase its charitable reach by approximately 18 per cent this year. The MRR donated $81,650 following the 2023 event.
Among the 18 recipients is the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The fight against Muscular Dystrophy, ALS and other disabling neuromuscular diseases has been a charitable objective of MRR organizers since 1951.
Other organizations receiving contributions from the road race committee include: the Community Emergency Response Team; Case Mountain Inc.; Gentle Love Diaper Pantry; Girls on the Run Southeastern Connecticut; the Manchester Sculpture Project; MARC; Manchester High School (for athletic equipment); the Manchester High School Marching Band; Manchester High School (for performing arts technology); Manchester High School Track & Field; the MRC Track and Field Series; the Manchester Police Activities League; Rebuilding Together Manchester; STEAM Camp; and the TLC Foundation.
A special donation of $12,000 was made to the Lutz Children’s Museum from the MRR Honors Club Program. Each year, up to 120 runners sign up to run the race in support of a designated local non-profit organization and pay $100, instead of the traditional entry fee. The Manchester Road Race Committee donates all of the money collected to that cause.
The MRR also contributed $600 to the Irish Cancer Society in honor of Mark Carroll, the Irish Olympian and two-time MRR Champion who served as the honorary chairperson of last November’s run.
The Manchester Road Race, one of America’s largest and most popular Turkey Trots, is run annually on Thanksgiving Day. The race is held on a 4.737-mile course through the town’s central streets. Principal Sponsors of the 2024 MRR were Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Pratt & Whitney and Hoffman Lexus.
The 89th MRR is scheduled for November 27, 2025 at 10 a.m. Registration will open on September 1st.
MRR TEAMS UP WITH RED CROSS FOR ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL BLOOD DRIVE (November 30, 2024)
The Manchester Road Race Committee and the American Red Cross of Connecticut teamed up to hold another successful blood drive Friday.
A total of 376 units of blood were donated during the day-long “Ray Crothers Blood Drive” held at Manchester High School. That’s a record for pints collected at the MRR event, surpassing the prior standard of 372 units that were donated last year.
The road race committee has been partnering with the Red Cross to stage the blood drive each year since 1986, and a total of 8,634 pints of blood have been collected since then. The event is held annually on the Friday after the Thanksgiving Day Manchester Road Race is run, and is named after Ray Crothers, a long-time participant and former MRR champion who died from cancer in 2008.
“We are extremely thankful for the large turnout and the exceptional generosity of everyone who donated,” said Lance P. Morgan, a physician assistant and MRR executive committee member who coordinated the effort. “Their efforts, and those of the Red Cross, the financial sponsors, and our other benefactors, will help to save many lives.
Morgan noted that the 376 pints of blood collected Friday will benefit 1,128 patients in Connecticut who need transfusions of blood, plasma and platelets.
