Famed road races in Manchester in the US and UK are now “twinning.”
MANCHESTER, CT — Two world-class road races that are staged annually on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean will soon share more than a common name.
Officials from the AJ Bell Great Manchester Run in the United Kingdom and the Manchester Road Race in the United States issued a joint statement Tuesday announcing their agreement to “twin” the two elite athlete programs./
The British 10K race is run in Manchester each May as part of the annual Great Run Series, which can be traced back to the inaugural Great North Run in 1981. Staged along with a half-marathon on the same day, it is the largest event of its kind in Europe and draws approximately 35,000 entrants and 150,000 spectators each year.
In Connecticut, The Manchester Road Race is a 4.737-mile run which is staged on a loop course through the central streets of the Silk City every Thanksgiving Day. Considered one of America’s largest and most iconic Thanksgiving Day races, it will be run for the 89th time this November and frequently attracts more than 12,000 runners.
Some of the world’s best long-distance competitors participate in both road races.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed this summer, the first male and female British elite athletes to finish the Great Manchester Run will be invited to compete in the Connecticut road race. The first U.S. male and female elite runners in the Manchester Road Race will be invited to run at the event in the UK.
The Great Manchester Run and the Manchester Road Race will pay the travel and lodging expenses of their respective guest runners. The agreement is effective this November.
“We are extremely excited about linking our two Manchester races,” said Dr. Tris Carta, the president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “In addition to sharing the top runners from our respective nations, we’re hoping this agreement will result in many other positive relationships and interactions between our two great events and cities.”
Matthew Turnbull, the elite athlete manager for the Great Run Series, said, “This is a great opportunity not only for our respective events but also for both the British and U.S. athletes who take part in our races.”
“The Great Run Series has a legacy and commitment to supporting athletes from all over the World and we welcome this opportunity to strengthen our ties with an iconic race in the U.S.”
The idea for “twinning” the two races was proposed by Jim Harvey, a former British athlete who now coaches professional runners and serves as the elite coordinator for the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut.