Canada’s Ben Flanagan wins the Manchester Road Race
Flanagan adds his third straight road race victory on American Thanksgiving
The Canadian 10K champion Ben Flanagan continues his fantastic season on the roads, winning Connecticut’s Manchester Road Race in 21:22. This road race holds a unique distance of 4.75 (7.6 km), and takes place on American Thanksgiving, which has been run since 1927.
Ben Flanagan wins the men’s title #MRR pic.twitter.com/k7lX6GXHd9
— Adam Betz (@adbetz1) November 25, 2021
Flanagan launched his kick on the hill around the four-kilometre mark, dropping the pack consisting of Leonard Korir and Mohamed Hrezi of Libya (who was 77th in the Tokyo Olympic Marathon) and never looked back. “To come out here and get the win, it’s a huge privilege,” Flanagan said in a post-race interview. “The crowd was electric. There were runners and spectators in turkey suits running next to me and cheering me on.”
Korir put on a late surge, but it wasn’t enough, finishing 12 seconds behind Flanagan in 21:37. Kenyan-born Sam Chelanga of was third in 21:37.
This was his third straight victory on the roads, winning the Canadian 10K Championship in October and setting the course record at the Falmouth Road Race in the summer.
Leslie Sexton and Ben Flanagan are your 2021 Canadian 10K champions
This wasn’t Flanagan’s first time at the Manchester Road Race, as he was eighth in 2019 (22:16). Flanagan missed out on a Canadian Olympic team spot in the 10,000m, earlier this summer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CV_stBdLSDI/
U.S.-citizen Weini Kelati, originally from Eritrea and was a prolific runner with the University of New Mexico in the NCAA, won the women’s title in a course record time of 22:55. Her time was one minute faster than the previous course record set by Emilie Mondor in 2003. In a post-race interview, she said that she is excited to get the win and run more fast times on the roads. Keira D’Amato finished second, almost a minute behind Kelati in 23:49. 2017 Boston Marathon champion Edna Kiplagat rounded out the podium for third in 24:04.
Weini Kelati DESTROYS the course record at the 2021 Manchester Road Race. She runs 22:55 for the 4.748-mile course to take over a minute off the CR.
That's 14:59 5k pace. What a run. pic.twitter.com/Js5SYNPr18
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) November 25, 2021
Other notable results
Sarah Inglis (4th) – 24:06
Emily Setlack (11th) – 25:16
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