Full championship fields at New Bedford Half Marathon

New Bedford Half Marathon - March 17, 2024

Grant O'Connor (Hartbeat TC) and Anna Oeser (Battle Road TC) ran off with the individual titles at the 45th New Bedford Half Marathon, the second championship in the 2024 USATF-NE Grand Prix, on Sunday. Hosted by the Friendly Sons of St.Patrick and the City of New Bedford, the 2097
entrants produced the largest field in 5 years   Clouds and showers disappeared well before race time and temperatures were fine for distance running, though the stiff breezes along the course added to the challenge.

O'Connor went out hard in the first two miles and ran unchallenged from 5km to the finish tape, his time of 1:04:44 setting a personal best by nearly two minutes.  Following him across the line a minute later were Ryan Eiler and Thomas Toth of the Boston Athletic Association; with places 2-3-4, the B.A.A. took team honors by 18 minutes over Tracksmith Boston Hares among 21 USATF-NE clubs.

Oeser had a similar dominating performance with her personal best 1:13:40 providing a 1:32 gap over teammate Holly Rees.  The teammages ran together at the front of the women's field through about 8 miles when the winner moved ahead and built her lead in the final five miles.  Rees, a past New Bedford winner and this year's New England 4 mile champion retained second place in a creditable 1:15:10, 26 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Rachel Hyland (B.A.A.).  Led  by Oeser and Rees, Battle Road TC is now 2 for 2 in team championships for 2024, though unlike the men's wide margin, their 5 runners totaled just 41 seconds better than Tracksmith, as 16 USATF-NE clubs made the standings.

Top New England masters were Prescott Leach (Cambridge Sports Union) in 1:08:44 - 10th overall - and Jennifer Lutz (Battle Road) in 1:21:55, with Tracksmith (M) and Battle Road (W) the top age 40+ clubs. 

Overall Results - www.iresultslive.com/?eid=5949
Grand Prix scoring to follow by the end of the week.

Check out the New England Runner winners' interviews
   www.facebook.com/reel/1662920777866493/
   www.facebook.com/reel/1680693395798502/