Half Marathon Championship tours Boston

The Comcast Boston's Run to Remember half marathon returned to the calendar for the first time since 2019, hosting the USATF-NE half marathon championship on the Memorial Day weekend.  420 USATF members were in the crowd to earn team and individual scoring points in the third race on the 2023 Grand Prix schedule.

An early - 7:00 a.m. - start beat the unseasonable heat as competitors toured the Boston Waterfront area, downtown, and Memorial Drive.   Leading the 3000+ participants around the loop was Grant O'Connor (Hartbeat New England) in 1:06:21; he had a 1:07 gap on Erik Linden (B.A.A.) at the finish tape.

After a pair of second place finishes in earlier championships, Anna Oeser (Battle Road TC) took the women's division win in 1:16:58, 47 seconds in front of Ewa Zaborowska (Somerville RR).  

Among masters, Prescott Leach (CSU) won the 40+ division for the third time this year, and Jenn Lutz matched her Battle Road teammate's gold as first F40.  Nat Larson (Greater Springfield Harriers) continued his record setting as a 60 year old, as his time of 1:15:27  bettered the current US M60 record. 
 
The Boston Athletic Association men averaging 20 seconds per runner better to hold off Tracksmith Boston Hares to win the men's team trophy, and Whirlaway Racing Team women had the depth to hold off Battle Road for the open team wins.  In age division team scoring, Tracksmith (40+), CMS (50+), Whirlaway (60+) and NE65+ (70) led men's clubs with Whirlaway (40+ and 60+), B.A.A. (50+) and NE65+ (70+) did so in women's scoring.

Finalized Individual and Team scoring are now posted at the GP page.
Event results page
The race was hosted and managed by Millennium Running

Through three events, 892 individual USATF-NE members have participated in championship races, with 176 completing all three.   The next series race takes place on August 13 at the popular Bobby Doyle 5 Mile in Narragansett RI.

Photos courtesy of Millennium Running