Manchester Road Race: 8 Decades Of Running And Giving

MANCHESTER, CT — It's been a weird year for the Manchester Road race in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic. The race had to be run virtually and that meant limited sponsorships.

But for more than eight decades, the giving spirit had forged onward, like the final half-mile kick that adds luster to the finish.

"We are also deeply grateful to our wonderful sponsors, athletes, volunteers and spectators," Manchester Road Race President Dr. Tris Carta likes to say. "Their generous support enables us to offer a world-class road race and to make donations each year."

The big thing for 2020, Carta said, was the annual Ray Crothers Blood Drive. The road race committee began conducting the drive as part of its race week activities in 1986. The event is named after former MRR champion and longtime participant Ray Crothers of Tolland, who died of cancer in 2008.

This year, 306 units were collected and, overall, more than 6,500 pints have been donated to the American Red Cross since the local drive was initiated by the road race committee.

The Manchester Road Race has been donating between $70,000 and $110,000 annually for more than 2o years.

For example, after the 2019 race, MRR donated $20,000 to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The research efforts to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy have been a charitable objective of road race organizers since the early 1950s.

Grants have gone to other organizations like Manchester Police Activities League and the Manchester Area Conference of Churches. The Manchester PAL offers athletic, recreational and enrichment programs to the town's youth. MACC provides food and other assistance programs to underserved residents.

Rebuilding Together of Manchester, an organization that that helps to repair and restore the homes of individuals with financial needs or physical challenges, received a a check for $8,100 a year ago. The donation was made possible by the race's 81 “Honors Club” runners who each paid $100 when they entered last year’s road race.

Other groups receiving donations from the road race committee over the years include include Community Health Resources, MARC, Footwear with Care, Community Child Guidance Clinic, MRC Track & Field Services, Coventry Lake Rowing, the Manchester High School Performing Arts Technical Crew the Manchester High School Project Graduation.

"All of these organizations do such terrific work, and we are delighted that we can financially assist them,” Carta has said.

The 4.748-mile Manchester Road Race has been run through Manchester’s central streets on Thanksgiving Day morning for 85 years.