MATTAPOISETT – Mattapoisett knows how to celebrate Independence Day. Not with a cookout or fireworks – but with a four-mile road race.

About 1,357 runners registered for Mattapoisett’s 2024 July 4 Road Race, said Race Director Bill Tilden.

“We had some phenomenal times today because mother nature was extremely kind,” he said.

But the weather wasn’t kind to everyone. Wareham resident Isaiah Borges ran with six of his friends and said it was “sneaky hot” during the race.

Borges and his friends have a bit of a competition between each other in this year’s race. They agreed that whoever placed last in the group would have to do a punishment, he said.

While the punishment is yet to be determined, there will be a trophy for the group’s winner.

No matter who among Borges’ friends won their bet, none of them beat the time of first place finisher Will Benoit, who set a new course record with a time of 19:25.

According to Tilden, this is the second year of the race’s four-mile route which means racers only need to beat times from 2023’s race to set a record.

Racers are getting record times “into real spots and now they’re going to last a while,” said Tilden.

But record times weren’t the only thing people celebrated on July 4 this year.

Bridgewater resident Jim Howlett popped the question and asked Kate Rivet to be his wife on the lawn of Shipyard Park immediately after the race.

The couple first ran the Mattapoisett Road Race in 2023 and ever since then, Howlett knew how he’d propose.

“I told myself then that this time next year … that’s when I’m going to do it,” he said.

Family was a common thread at the Mattapoisett Road Race, father and son Jonathan Barratt and Solomon Barratt, 11, ran the race together.

“It makes my heart sing watching [my son] run the race,” Jonathan said.

It could still be a few years until Solomon can give his father a run for his money. The father and son duo finished with times of 27:35 and 40:33, respectively.

Racers young and old ran in the Mattapoisett race.

Fairhaven resident Barbara Belanger, 87, was the oldest person to run the race.

“I don’t feel any different than I ever did,” Belanger said. “87 is just a number.”

Belanger said that she had one goal going into the race: “To finish on my feet,” she said. Belanger took first in her age division with a time of 51:51.

Another old-timer who finished the race was 82-year-old Maurice “Mo” Bourque, who has run the race about 25 times, he said.

“When I was younger I was just looking up and seeing everybody win,” he said. “Now that I’m older, I seem to win them.”

Bourque finished the race in first place in his age division with a time of 46 minutes and 17 seconds.

While his age division only had four other people, “a win is a win,” Bourque said.

Keeping true to the spirit of the holiday, Race Director Bill Tilden said that “everybody earned a great cookout and a nap today.”

The top three overall finishers for men and women are:

Male Open:

• Will Benoit of Lowell with a time of 19:25
• Ethan Mashtare of Saint Albans, Vermont with a time of 19:42
• Colin Rooney of Manchester, Connecticut with a time of 20:35

Female Open:

• Margot Appleton of Mattapoisett with a time of 22:19
• Anna Weirich of Portola Valley, California with a time of 22:26
• Kimberly Dixon of Marion with a time of 23:16

Full results of the race can be found at runsignup.com.