Boston: About 2,000 people, including Boston blasts victims, have symbolically finished the marathon at an emotional event here meant to show that the city has taken back ownership of the popular race that was targeted in a terror attack last month.
Nearly seven weeks after two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, about 2,000 people yesterday ran the last 1.6 kilometres – of the 42-kilometre race, crossing the finish line. The impetus to run the final mile came from a group called ‘OneRun’, which was represented by spokesperson Kathleen McGonagle.
Tom Grilk, the executive director of the Boston Athletic Association, organised the effort to give runners and those looking to honour victims a true Boston Marathon experience.
A cold drizzle didn’t stop the marathon runners from running the final mile. It was their chance to “to run that final mile, stolen from us,” J Alain Ferry, who also helped organise the run, said.
The bombings killed three people and injured more than 250 people.
Some of the victims were among the runner.
Kyle Shade, 26, carried a Chinese flag to honour Lu Lingzi, a Chinese student who was killed in the bombing, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Jarrod Clowery, a 35-year-old survivor of the Boston Marathon bombings, still facing at least two surgeries on legs riddled with burns and shrapnel wounds attended the ‘OneRun’.
Clowery walked only the final blocks, from the Forum restaurant where he was injured to the finish line, because of his injuries. “I feel obligated to give back,” he was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying.
Bombing suspect 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in police custody. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during an April 19 shootout . (PTI)
