Guest Article...The Manchester Road Race - Cork Connection With Famous Race

Today is of course the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States. There are many races on today in the US as a result and one of the most famous is the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut. The following article was written by John Walshe of Ballycotton about an Irish connection with the event.

CORK CONNECTION WITH FAMOUS RACE ...By John Walshe

The fourth Thursday of November is known as Thanksgiving Day across the United States of America and is a national holiday. Along with the traditional roast turkey dinner, the day is marked by a number of long-established sporting events, including some of the oldest road races in the world.

One such event takes place in Manchester, Connecticut, and will today celebrate its 78th anniversary. Irish runners have played their part in the cherished roll of honour associated with this famous race, amongst them Corkman Mark Carroll. 

In connection with the 2011 75th anniversary race, a 176 page full-colour publication entitled ‘The Manchester Road Race: A Seventy-Five Year Celebration’ was published and the heading on page 158 honoured Carroll and his American-born wife, Amy Rudolph – it simply refers to the couple as “Mr & Mrs Road Race.” The Olympians, who married in 2005, have a combined total of seven Thanksgiving Day victories to their credit over the 4.748-mile route which has been used since the inaugural event began way back in 1927. Mark’s victories came in 1998 and 2000, the latter occasion also seeing Amy taking her inaugural title. His time on both occasions was 21:49 and between 1996 and 2010, Carroll could also boast of three second place finishes and was always a contender for top honours. After finishing runner-up in the two previous races, Carroll’s victory in 1998 in the drenching rain saw him hold off Brian Baker of the United States and Kenyan runners Paul Mwangi and Daniel Kihara to take the coveted title by a margin of 13 seconds. Two years later, it was a much closer affair. Three elite runners – Carroll, Janko Bensa of Yugoslavia and Mohamaed Amyn of Morocco – battled down Main Street with Bensa marginally ahead but the Corkman responded with a final burst of speed with 60 metres left to win again as just two seconds covered the top three.

Carroll’s wife, Amy, a native of Kane in Pennsylvania, has a more impressive record in the race. She has notched up a total of five victories from 14 starts, along with five second places and two thirds. In 2002 she finished 22nd overall in a time of 24:25, the highest ever place by a female runner. Carroll and Rudolp both attended Providence College and other former Providence runners to feature on the Manchester honour list include John Treacy, winner in 1979 (the year he won the second of his two World Cross-Country titles). His time on that occasion of 21:26 would stand for 17 years and second that day was the winner’s brother Ray, a former member of Leevale.

Martin Fagan is the most recent Irish winner, his time of 21:41 six years ago securing the title to add to his second place in 2007. Waterford man David McCarthy - another Providence athlete - maintained the strong Irish connection in 2010 when taking third position in 21:45.

From humble beginnings in 1927 when just 12 runners took part to today’s massive event which now sees entries capped at a phenomenal 15,000, the Manchester Thanksgiving Day Road Race is now one of New England's premier sporting events.

Former Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot, now Editor-at-Large for Runner’s World, won the event on nine occasions in the 1960s and 70s but probably just as impressive is his record of running the race every year for the past 51 years! Now aged 68, no doubt he will continue for a few years yet and will be in the line-up again this time along with Dennis McCormack who is going for his 50th consecutive Manchester race.  

For Mark Carroll from Knocknaheeny, who is still Irish record holder for the 3000 metres with his 7:30.36 from 1999, the race will always invoke special memories: “Thanksgiving means Manchester for us,” he says of the affection it holds for both himself and his wife. “We are so thankful for the friendships we have forged there,” added Amy, “it is a race that not only gives to the running community, but to the community as a whole. Everyone has been so wonderful to us and our hearts will always be in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day.”

Running USA issue annual Half-Marathon report

Running USA have just announced their annual Half-Marathon report and it finds that yet again, the Half-Marathon is still the most popular distance for a race. In 2011, there were an estimated 1.6 million finishers which was 16% up on the 2010 figure. In a 2011 National Runner Survey, the half-marathon was also the favorite distance to run for 35% of men and 39% of women. It is also the fastest growing road race distance in the United States with finishing numbers having tripled from 2000 to 2011 (482,000 to 1,610,000), an increase of 234%.

Interestingly enough, the Half-Marathon has proved to be more popular with women as they made up 59% of the total. This is the exact opposite to the Marathon numbers in the USA where men make up 59%.

How does that compare to the gender balance in Ireland? In the 2011 Bay Run Half-Marathon in west Cork, women accounted for 40% of all the runners. In the June 2011 Cork City Half-Marathon, women made up 47.6% of the field. If the trend here follows that in the USA then perhaps in future years, women might be the majority in local Half-Marathons? Only time will tell.

Back to the Half-Marathon stats.....
1) The average age was 38.2 for a male and 35.3 for a female.
2) The average finishing times were 2:01 for males and 2:20 for females.

World's Largest Half-Marathons.....
In 2011, Göteborg in Sweden regained the #1 ranking as the world’s largest half-marathon with 42,904 finishers vs. 2010’s top half the Bupa Great North Run who slipped to #2 with 37,512 finishers. Over the past decade, the Great North Run has held the #1 position 8 out of 10 years. Göteborg 2011 also became the largest annual half-marathon ever (previous record, 40,523, Göteborg 2009).

2011 World’s Largest Half-Marathons (finishers):
1)    Göteborg, Sweden    42,904 (largest annual half-marathon all-time)
2)    Bupa Great North Run, Great Britain    37,512
3)    Zappos.com Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas, NV    33,257
4)    OneAmerica 500 Festival, IN    30,659
5)    Paris, France    23,673
6)    Country Music, TN    22,015
7)    Walt Disney World, FL    21,991
8)    Vattenfall, Germany    20,250
9)    Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio, TX    19,546
10)    P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona, AZ    19,343
11)    Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego, CA    17,194
12)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle, WA    17,101
13)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia, PA    16,519
14)    Nike Women’s, CA    16,126
15)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago, IL    15,320
16)    Standard Chartered Singapore, SIN    14,655
17)    Solutia Rock ‘n’ Roll St. Louis, MO    14,611
18)    Fubon Taipei Int’l, TPE    14,325
19)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah, GA (inaugural)    14,163
20)    Disney Princess, FL    13,799