New Bedford Half Marathon: An engaged couple takes the top spots

Greg Sullivan
·4 min read

NEW BEDFORD – Strictly speaking, it was not a family sweep. So, let's call it the couple double.

Matt McDonald and Maegan Krifchin, an engaged couple from Cambridge, were the male and female overall champions at the New Bedford Half Marathon on Sunday. McDonald not only shared laurel honors with his fiancee, the Princeton graduate and former Ivy League 10,000-meter champion won New Bedford for the second year in a row.

On a sunny, wind-chilled day, the tall, lanky McDonald, 29, covered the 13.1-mile loop in 1:04:12, defeating runnerup JP Flavin by 79 seconds and beating his 2022 winning time by five seconds.

Krifchin's victory was not quite so decisive but was far from a nailbiter. Taking charge near the race's midpoint, Krifchin, 34, and running her first New Bedford Half, finished in 1:12:43. Second-place Jessie Cardin was 32 seconds behind.

Runners make their way down Rockdale Avenue during the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.
Runners make their way down Rockdale Avenue during the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.

How many people finished the New Bedford Half Marathon?

The race had 1,567 entries and 1,295 finishers.

McDonald and Krifchin had pondered the prospect of returning to Cambridge with both NB Half crowns. “The champion double, yeah we thought that would be pretty cool, but we didn't know,” she said.

For decades a nationally and internationally recognized high-quality race, the New Bedford Half doubles to many runners as an ideal one-month-out tuneup for the Boston Marathon. Ingrid Kristiansen set a women's world record here (1:08:32) in 1989 and former Boston Marathon champion Geoff Smith still owns the course record (1:01:58).

Matt McDonald leads the 2023 New Bedford Half Marathon on Rockdale Avenue. He won the race for the second straight year.
Matt McDonald leads the 2023 New Bedford Half Marathon on Rockdale Avenue. He won the race for the second straight year.

Winner is going on the Boston Marathon next month

McDonald, who is part of the Boston Athletic Association's Performance Team, plans to run Boston next month and found Sunday's effort encouraging as he looks to Patriots Day.

Runners congratulate themselves after completing the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.
Runners congratulate themselves after completing the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.

“I'd like to compete. It's tough to put a time on Boston because you don't know what the weather's going to be,” he said. “But a P.R. (personal record) would always be nice and really competing among a fantastic American and international field would be a huge accomplishment for me.”

McDonald said he had a specific game plan for New Bedford '23 and it fell into place nicely.

“I was super excited to come back here for a second year,” he said. “The conditions weren't as nice as last year. We had some winds to deal with, but it was fun to just fight out there. I decided this year that I really wanted to push it over the big hill at around Mile 4. So we got to the top of that hill and I just opened up and tried to let the downhill carry me all the way to the ocean.”

The field included six runners from the Rochester, Mich.-based Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, an Olympic development program. Runnerup Flavin is from Hansons-Brooks, as were top men's finishers Wilkerson Given (4th, 1:06:45) and Jack Mastandrea (5th, 1:06:57) and the women's 2-3-4 finishers Cardin, Anne-Marie Blaney (1:13:48) and Olivia Pratt (1:14:06).

New Bedford firefighters run a relay at the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.
New Bedford firefighters run a relay at the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.

“I wasn't exactly sure how it would play out today,” Krifchin, a Syracuse grad, said. “I thought it would be nice to win as a new local to the area, just moved to Boston at the start of the year. I knew we had some good competition. I just wanted to roll with the leaders and see if I could open it up at the end.”

Ultimately, she did not wait until the end, instead starting to turn up the heat around the 6-mile mark and taking control soon after. “I was with another female and kind of worked with her a bit,” she said. “But on the water is where I kind of made a big move.”

A man cheers runners on, on Rockdale Avenue at the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.
A man cheers runners on, on Rockdale Avenue at the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.

HALF NOTES

McDonald said the New Bedford Half course presents runners with an interesting challenge. “This course is tough at the start and tough at the end, but the middle miles are real nice to you.”

Julianna Sousa, 18, of New Bedford won the female age 1- 19 division in 1:54:46; Mary Cass, 61, of Westport, won female 60-69 (1:35:44); Patsy Jeffries, 70, of Dartmouth won female 70-99 ( 1:55:31).

Race director Dan McCarthy on New Bedford Half 2023:

“Excellent. It's excellent. Better than we could have imagined. The weather's been great. A little windy for the runners. We're just excited. We're on the rebound from COVID, so we're hoping the field will grow the next two, three years.”

A runner is overcome with emotion as he finishes the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.
A runner is overcome with emotion as he finishes the 2023 New Bedford Half-Marathon.

Full results are available at ww.iresultslive.com (http://ww.iresultslive.com/)

McDonald headed to McDonalds. Fifteen minutes or so after crossing the finish line, McDonald shared an intense craving he planned to give into as soon as possible, if possible. “A Shamrock Shake,” he said. He was just hoping some McDonald's would still have the green delight two days after St. Patrick's Day.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford half marathon male and female winners engaged couple

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