Hoyts run for final time
This year’s Boston Marathon was the final farewell for two of the most recognizable faces in the race - father and son team Dick and Rick Hoyt.
Rick has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, and dad Dick has pushed his son across the finish line 30 times before.
At the finish line Monday, Dick Hoyt said they “definitely” had to do it this year in honor of the 2013 bombing victims. He said the spectator support was “unbelievable.”
The Hoyts finished in 7:37.33.
The Hoyts didn’t get to finish last year because of the explosions at the finish line.
They’re so beloved that there’s a statue in their honor in Hopkinton near the starting line.
Dick is 74 and this will be their last time doing the marathon together. Rick wants to keep going though, with someone else pushing him.
Silence to noise
At 2:49 p.m. Eastern - the time the bombs exploded last year - a moment of remembrance was held on the course.
Near the site of the explosions, the silence was followed by the longest and most sustained cheer of the day. People screamed, whooped, whistled, clapped and rang cowbells.
Live from the course
Bill Kole, AP’s New England bureau chief, ran the marathon, tweeting from every mile. At Mile 25, he reported: “This is where police stopped the race last year. Nothing but a jubilant stream of humanity today.”
Kole finished in 4 hours, 33 minutes, 37 seconds.
His last tweet: “Everyone’s screaming on Boylston Street. For all the right reasons. 36,000 sweaty, tearful, exuberant reasons.”Finishing together
Newlyweds who each lost a leg in last year’s bombing completed the marathon together this year, riding handcycles for the 26.2-mile course.
Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky were newly married last year when they went to the marathon finish line to watch the runners cross. They suffered severe injuries; each lost a left leg.
On Monday, they rode side by side in the handcycle race, completing the course from Hopkinton to Boston in about 2 hours and 14 minutes. Both smiled as they rolled across the finish line, holding hands.
A spokesman for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital said the couple wanted to make sure they completed the race together.First aid
With nearly 36,000 runners attempting to run 26.2 miles, that’s a lot of aches and pains.
The 1,900 medical personnel had on hand 500 bags of ice, 800 cots, 4,000 adhesive bandages, 500 tubes of petroleum jelly, 25 EKG machines and 10,000 pairs of medical gloves.
Remembering
Teams of runners took part in the marathon in memory of each of the three people killed in the bombing, along with MIT Officer Sean Collier, who was slain days later during the manhunt for the suspects.
Team MR8 ran for the Martin Richard Charitable Foundation, which honors 8-year-old Martin’s message of “No more hurting people - peace” by investing in education, athletics and community. A group from Boston University supports a scholarship fund that honors Lu Lingzi, a graduate student from China. And friends of Medford native Krystle Campbell ran to raise money for a memorial fund in her name.
There was also a contingent from the Boston Fire Department, many of them first responders during last year’s attack, who ran in memory of firefighters Michael Kennedy and Edward Walsh, who died in a recent blaze in the Back Bay.
Back in Boston
Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs in the bombing, stood in the stands just past the finish line with his fiancee, Erin Hurley, and fellow amputee Adrianne Haslet-Davis. They were applauding runners as they crossed.
Bauman was wearing his prosthetics and had the help of two crutches. The group sat a few feet away from Carlos Arredondo, who helped save his life.
It was the first time Bauman had returned to the finish line area since the attacks.
“It feels great” to be back, he said. “I feel very safe.”In their honor
Meb Keflezighi, who gave the Boston fans their first American men’s winner in more than three decades, wore the names of four victims on his running bib.
Written in marker in small, neat letters in each corner were Krystle, Lingzi, Martin and Sean.
Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi and Martin Richard were killed in the bombings during last year’s race. MIT Officer Sean Collier was killed days later in the hunt for the bombing suspects.
Sports, Pages 21 on 04/22/2014