VIDEO: American Thanksgiving day race sees heck of a sprint finish!

The Manchester Road Race went ahead today. While Americans prepped for their massive Thanksgiving dinners, two U.S. elites – Molly Huddle and Paul Chelimo – ran extra hard for their slices of turkey and pumpkin pie.

The women’s race in particular was quite the watch as it came down to a sprint finish between Huddle and Buze Diriba. It was a dramatic moment to end the 4.748 mile road race as Diriba got herself an ever-so-slight lead on Huddle to take first place. She ran a 23:57 race to finish one second ahead of her American competitor. See the video finish below.

Super tight finish. Buze Diriba over @MollyHuddle at Manchester (We think). https://t.co/Hu2QyAzt2j pic.twitter.com/gE0Uic9i1f

— LetsRun.com (@letsrundotcom) November 23, 2017

The men’s race was won by Paul Chelimo and if you thought the women’s finish was awesome, check out Chelimo’s post-race tweet:

Dear Turkey,

Today I dedicated the #MRR Win to you; now I can say its time feast on you?.
Run like a Beast before you Feast.

Go Hard or Starve!

Yours Truly,
ME.

Happy Thanksgiving!

— Paul Chelimo???? (@Paulchelimo) November 23, 2017

Chelimo’s Twitter game kind of stole his race’s thunder but his time was 21:32. His fans will agree that he’s well deserving of any Thanksgiving celebrations he gets up to now that he’s put in some fast miles today. 

The Manchester Road Race is held annually on American Thanksgiving in Manchester, Connecticut. It has been running ever since a small group of runners toed the line in 1927.