Registration For 2025 Manchester Road Race Set To Open With New Charitable Focus

MANCHESTER, CT — Registration for the 89th Manchester Road Race officially opens on Sept. 1 and, this Thanksgiving, race organizers and runners will be making strides to alleviate hunger in Connecticut.

Manchester Road Race Committee President Dr. Tris Carta has announced that food insecurity will be the primary charitable focus of this year's road race, which will be staged at 10 a.m. in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27, 2025).

Carta said 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-profits. 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 its Community Kitchen to serve 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.

Registration for the 4.737-mile Thanksgiving Day Run is available online Starting Sept. 1 at www.manchesterroadrace.com. This year’s entry fee will remain $32 for runners who sign up on-line at www.manchesterroadrace.com prior to 11:59 p.m. EST on Sept 30. The entry fee increases to $37 on Oct. 1s and to $42 on Nov. 22.

Registration for the race will close completely on Nov. 25 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 Sept. 1.

There will not be any bib pickups 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."

The race can draw 11,000-plus participants.

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. Online registration for the virtual run also begins on Sept. 1 and closes on Nov.25. 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. More details are available on the road race website.