Race director Balcome retires after more than four decades
MANCHESTER — One last time, Jim Balcome stood next to a crowd of 10,000 runners on Main Street and as the starting pistol went off and the mass of humanity surged forward, he intoned what has become his trademark phrase: “This is Thanksgiving in Manchester.”
Balcome, who has been one of only two race directors in the 86-year history of the Manchester Road Race, is retiring from his RD duties after this year. The 78-yearold retired guidance counselor has been the race director since 1979.
“I don’t know what emotions I have right now,” Balcome said after the race. “Bottom line is will I miss being here next year. This is one of my favorite days of the year.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet.”
It’s not really over for Balcome. He has to work at the race’s blood drive Friday, one of the largest in the state, at Manchester High, then organize the Charlie Robbins Club lunch Nov. 30 for the race’s 75-plus runners. Then there will be wrap-up meetings and then he’s free.
“It’s not over, but this part is over,” he said.
Thayer Redman, who has been Balcome’s assistant, will take over as race director.
Balcome went out on a perfect day — five men running under the previous course record, the weather was perfect, no snow or rain or freezing cold.
“Everything fell into place,” he said. “It was a great day.”
Some of his best memories were watching Charlie Duggan, a Hartford Public grad, win the race in 1980 after 12 attempts and the snow year when some kind of ice melt chemical was dusted onto the road — “I don’t know what it was but I have a feeling that 2-3 days after the race, the bottom of a lot of people’s shoes fell off.”
Balcome always made sure to greet the last runner at the finish line every year. After everything wrapped up, he would go home and have a glass of Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry then take a nap.
She won a WNBA title with the Sacramento Monarch before that in 2005. She also won a gold medal with USA Basketball in 2008.
After her playing career ended, Lawson got into broadcasting with the Washington Wizards before stepping into coaching. She was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics in 2019-20 before taking the Duke job.
Injury update
Uconn will be without graduate forward Dorka Juhász. Juhász broke her left thumb in the Huskies’ win over then-no. 3 Texas last Monday. It was announced later in the week that she would be out for at least the next three games.
Auriemma gave 6-foot-1 forward Aubrey Griffin the nod to start alongside Aaliyah Edwards in last Sunday’s blowout over then-no. 10 NC State. The duo stepped up down low to make up for Juhász’s absence, with Edwards recording 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists while Griffin finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six steals.
The Wolfpack played with four guards, which matched up well with the Huskies. Auriemma note that other teams are going to cause a huge height mismatch and the coaching staff will have to adjust game by game. How much freshman forward Ayanna Patterson will contribute will be a factor as well, and Auriemma said that Uconn had Edwards, Griffin and Patterson all on the floor together at times throughout Wednesday’s practice.
Also on the injury front, Caroline Ducharme (neck stiffness) saw her minutes slightly increase against the Wolfpack. She was on the court for 11 minutes after only playing three against Texas.
“I think she understands this is a long process and it’s going to be a little bit at a time, progress is going to be measured, slowly, incrementally,” Auriemma said of Ducharme. “But every day in practice she’s doing a little bit more, a little bit more. And so far the reaction has been good, she just has to get back into playing.”