Boston Marathon

Zachary Stinson and Alicia Dana take Boston Marathon handcycle titles

Dana set a course record for women's handcycling.

By Peyton Doyle

April 17, 2023

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In Monday’s 127 annual Boston Marathon, Zachary Stinson captured his second title in the race’s men’s handcycling event, finishing with a time of 1:11:51.

The 33-year-old broke out in the event in 2021, finishing first with a time of 1:11:53 after landing in seventh during his previous two attempts in 2018 and 2017.

This year’s race was the tightest of the last decade, with Stinson edging out second place Kevin Hillery by just seven seconds. The 32-year-old Hillery made his Boston Marathon debut on Monday.

The field behind Stinson and Hillery consisted of 25 other racers.

The top two lost the rest of the pack around the 30-kilometer mark of the race. Once it got to the 20-mile marker, the next closest runner was two minutes and 45 seconds behind Hillery.

Coming in third this year was Steve Chapman with a time of 1:17:46. Behind Chapman were Dustin Baker and Thomas Antolic, who finished in fourth and fifth at 1:19:42 and 1:21:58 respectively.

A record in women’s handcycling

On the women’s side of the event, Alicia Dana won her second career Boston Marathon in as many attempts.

Dana, who won in 2018 with a time of 1:40:22, finished this year’s race with a record time of 1:18:15. The previous mark was 1:35:10 set by Wendy Larsen last year.

The Vermont native led a group of seven female hand cyclists at this year’s race. While the men’s field was tightly contested, the women’s race was not so. 

At the halfway mark, Dana had obtained an 11-minute lead over 2019 champion Devann Murphy in second, and a near 14-minute advantage over Edie Perkins in third.

When the race concluded, Perkins had taken a lead over Murphy and finished two minutes ahead of her with a time of 1:47:38.

Duos

In the duos race, Sean McQuaid and Cormac Evans won with a time of 2:53:38, a personal best at the race.

The pair finished second in last year’s race with a time of 3:06:47, behind Christopher Nasser and Bentley-Grace Hicks, who also won in 2021.

The duo competed against eight other teams in Monday’s race and truly established their lead over the final quarter of the race.

At the 25-kilometer marker the pair had just a five second lead over second-place Juline Pinsonneault and Me Hour Lim. Five kilometers later that lead was one minute, and after another five it was nearly five.

At the finish line, McQuaid and Evans won by 10 minutes and 38 seconds.