It’s become something of a Thanksgiving tradition, up there with the Macy’s Day parade and the dog show on TV and squabbling over politics at the table:
Weini Kelati will win the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut.
Thursday morning, for the fourth Thanksgiving in a row, Kelati traveled from Flagstaff to the east coast to dominate the elite 4.7-mile event. She won going away in 23:14, almost 50 seconds ahead of runner-up Annie Rodenfels, who has been running strong on the roads this fall.
Kelati, the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance Olympian in the 10,000 meters, didn’t break her own course record she set in Manchester in 2021 (22:55), but she did run faster than her winning times in 2022 and last year. (Note: Officials remeasured the course this year because of construction changes and it was slightly longer, a couple of meters.)
Flagstaff’s Emily Durgin finished fourth in a tight battle with Argentina’s Florencia Borelli, but Borelli won by two seconds in 24:16.
In the Manchester men’s race, Dark Sky’s Eduardo Herrera and Edwin Kurgat finished second and third in 21:15 and 21:19, as Andrew Colley overtook Kurgat, the early leader and won by six seconds.
Kelati is not done racing this year, by the way. She — and a host of other Flagstaff-based runners — will be competing in an elite mile race before the Honolulu Marathon next weekend.
Sedona Turkey Trot: Call it a rite of passage for some Flagstaff elites. For the third year in a row, the women’s victor in the Sedona Turkey Trot 5K was a professional. This time, new Flagstaffian Katie Izzo, the former Arkansas star, won the women’s title in 15:43.
Izzo finished third overall, behind two Flagstaff men, Michael Cox (15:10) and Brendan Sands (15:27). Marshall Ritter was the third male in 16:37.
After Izzo, former Flagstaff High runner Fiona Nicholson finished second in 17:41, and Ivette Mejia was third in 18:02.
The master’s winners were Ryan Gulden in 17:17 (men) and Valerie Cross in 20:04.
Except for Mejia, who hails from New York City, all the podium winners and masters winners were Flagstaffians.
Berwick Run for the Diamonds: Hoka NAZ Elite’s Paige Wood broke her own course record to win the 115th rtunning of this nine-mile race in 48:37.
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