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More than 1,800 runners are expected to take to the streets Sunday morning in the 46th New Bedford Half Marathon, a 13.1-mile circuit usually lined with volunteers and cheering spectators.
The course — a contour roughly tracing the outlines of a whale swimming north — will disrupt traffic and parking along major thoroughfares and side streets for four hours, with roads closing at 10 a.m. and reopening at 2 p.m. The race starts at 11 a.m. with a three-hour finishing limit.
The fastest time last year was set by a 26-year-old man from West Hartford, CT, who led a field of 1,829 runners with a time of 1:04:43. A 24-year-old woman from Brookline set the best women’s time of 1:13:40.
The all-time record for men, 1:01:58, was set in 1985; the women’s record, 1:08:32, was set in 1989.
Sunday’s weather forecast calls for spring-like conditions: high temperatures near 60, clear early in the day with a chance of showers in the afternoon.
Most of the runners are from the New Bedford area, but last year’s event also drew participants from all six New England states, and 15 other states as far west as California, south to Florida and Georgia and two Canadian provinces.
Along with the Moby-Dick Marathon in January and the summer Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the Half Marathon — sponsored by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick since 2009 — is one of the city’s main annual events, and the most sprawling.
Runners step off downtown, on Pleasant Street near City Hall, heading north on Purchase Street to Nauset Street, west on Hathaway Road, south on Rockdale to the South End peninsula of West, South and East Rodney French Boulevard, north on County Street back to the starting point.
More than 100 New Bedford police officers and a number of Emergency Medical Services crews will be stationed along the route.
The city urges drivers to avoid Route 18 south from Union Street during the race. South End residents are urged to plan to leave for travel before 10 a.m. and return after 1:30 p.m.
Find details on registration, fees, course information and more at the New Bedford Half Marathon website.
Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org
