Locals, Massachusettsans shine at Vermont City Marathon
Women’s record falls, first time winner in men’s race
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The Vermont City Marathon returned on a warm, sunny day, and saw a pair of runners from Cambridge, Massachusetts steal the show. Maegan Krifchin was the big winner on the deal, downing a 14-year old record to become the first women’s runner to ever complete the VCM in under 2 hours, 35 minutes, while Louis Serafini was about 50 seconds shy of the men’s record as he claimed his first ever marathon victory.
“Oh I feel great,” Serafini said. “I’ve never won a marathon before so that was kind of my only goal. So to be able to cross the finish line first means a lot.”
“I knew I wanted to hit the course record today,” Krifchin said. “I wanted to be under that and I was today, which is pretty exciting. I just wanted to mark my territory here and make it harder for the next person.”
The fastest Vermont runners were John Stanton-Geddes of Burlington and Jennifer Moltz of Rochester.
“I did not expect that at all.,” Stanton-Geddes said. “I’ve done the event probably the last ten years that they’ve had it in some form. Whether the half or the full. You know, there’s a lot of great runners out there. Did get a little warm out there, was able to hold it together. Love the course, you know those last 6 miles you get to the top of Church Street, it’s just go.”
“Pretty amazing,” Moltz added. “A big accomplishment there and beautiful day so I couldn’t be happier.”
The handcycles went 13.1 miles instead of the full marathon, and it ended up being a repeat of 2018 as Jordan Carrell of South Burlington and Devann Murphy from Keeseville, N.Y. took the titles.
“Yeah I think the half versus the full, you definitely are cranking a lot harder than you normally would because it’s just a shorter race,” Carrell said. “Normally you have to kind of reserve some energy for the second half, but this time I just kinda went all out.”
“It’s pretty cool doing it closer to home, because I actually have like people in the crowd,” Murphy added. “You don’t get that when you’re in New York or Boston or D.C.”
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