MANCHESTER – When long-time Manchester Road Race starter Bob Moran died in September, it was the passing of an icon.
Every year since 1989, the maroon-jacketed Moran stood in front of over 10,000 runners on Thanksgiving Day and at 10 a.m., when the race started, the puff of smoke from his starting pistol was wafted away and there was Moran charging to the sidewalk to avoid being trampled.
In keeping with the tradition of having a starter with a starting pistol, Moran’s friend Dave Smith, who lives in Vernon, volunteered to take over and will be the new starter of the 88th annual race on Thursday morning.
“To do it in the first place is an honor,” said Smith, who met Moran when Smith coached at Rockville High and Moran was a coach at East Hartford High.
“To follow a legend, it kind of intensifies the honors. I’m happy to help out. I miss Bob a lot. He was universally loved. I still can’t get my head around the fact that he’s not here.”
Manchester, which has over 11,000 runners registered as of Friday, is one of the few major road races in the country that still employs a starter with a starter pistol.
Bob Moran fires the gun to signal the start of the 86th running of the Manchester Road Race, Manchester, November 24, 2022. Photo by Cloe Poisson/Special to the Courant
“My understanding is all races that are going to submit times for records have to have electronic starters,” Manchester Road Race president Tris Carta said.
But because Manchester is a quirky distance, 4.737 miles, there won’t be any records to worry about, besides course records.
“Our race is what it is,” Carta said. “It’s always been with a starter. It has a certain charm to it that we embrace.”
Smith has worked at the starting line in the past, helping keep the runners where they belong until the race starts.
“My brother and another guy will make sure the runners start in back of the starting line,” Smith said. “That’s what I used to do. I can see them. When they clear out, I’ll yell at the runners, ‘One command, then the gun.’ ‘’On your mark. One thousand. Bang.’ That’s how I’ll do it. I hope the gun goes off.”
Carta has a backup starting pistol just in case.
When the timers see the puff of smoke, they start the clock.
“I think it’s a very unique thing to Manchester,” said Charlie Olbrias, one of the timers for The Last Mile Racing timing company that times Manchester, as well as the Boston and Chicago Marathons and the Falmouth Road Race, among other national events.
“When you get a visual puff of smoke and you start it off of that, that is as accurate as you can get unless you’re doing fully automated timing.”
Another iconic race in the state, the Litchfield Hills Road Race, starts with a cannon going off.
“We don’t have a cannon,” Carta said. “We have a gun starter. It’s a beautiful picture to see that puff of smoke and all the runners …we’re about tradition. This is about keeping a tradition.”
