Picture Connecticut: Mile 4 Funnel, Manchester Road Race

MANCHESTER, CT — The latest edition of the Picture Connecticut series is a Thanksgiving tradition within a Thanksgiving Tradition.

It's the funnel at Mile 4 in the Manchester Road Race.

The funnel is one of the loudest, most inspiring and most strategic sections portions of the 4.748-mile race. Thanksgiving morning was the 87 edition of the race.

Mile 4 is in the center of a mile-ling straightaway that greets runners coming off a climb and a sweeping left-hand curve. The course narrows because just half of East Center Street is coned off for the race.

Elite runners make many decisions at Mile 4 — start the kick, lay back in a pack or keep the pace. For most of those in the field of 11,000 it's the beginning of the end of the race.

Greeting everyone at the funnel are thousands of loud, encouraging fans lining both sides of the course.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly Patch series featuring unique images of the state, past and present.
Previous featured images:

• UConn Lacrosse Giving Back, Connecticut River Valley
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 3, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 2, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 1, Hartford
• The Doughboy, East Hartford
• The Walt Whitman Stone, West Hartford
• The indoor bush plane, Hartford County
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester