31,805 cross finish line of Boston’s 118th race

Sign-ups soar in support of ’13 blast victims

Boston Marathon bombing hero Carlos Arredondo cheers for runners near the finish line of the 118th Boston Marathon, Monday, April 21, 2014, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Boston Marathon bombing hero Carlos Arredondo cheers for runners near the finish line of the 118th Boston Marathon, Monday, April 21, 2014, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON - Under bright, sunny skies and heavy security, more than 30,000 racers took part in the Boston Marathon on Monday, a year after two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others.

The attack, which shattered a joyous city tradition that’s more than a century old, led thousands of runners from around the country to sign up to compete in the marathon as an expression of support and defiance.

Organizers said the race featured more than 32,000 runners, thousands more than usual, as well as a record crowd of 1 million people, twice the usual number. The Boston Athletic Association, on its website, reported 31,805 runners completed the marathon - 98 percent of the 32,456 who started it.

They saw a thrilling finish among the elite male competitors as Meb Keflezighi became the first American to win the race since 1983. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya defended her title in the women’s race.

As the first racers, those in wheelchairs, crossed the finish line shortly after 10:30 a.m., crowds of spectators roared their approval.

Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa, who was born with congenital birth defects, was first, giving him his 10th Boston Marathon win. As he finished, he began to sob in the middle of Boylston Street.

“The last 5 miles was a tunnel of people,” he said. “Last year was just terrible, and coming back and seeing how strong Boston has become, and seeing all the people, it’s a big moment.”

Donna Tripp and her three stepchildren left the family’s suburban home in Whittman, Mass., on Monday just after 7 a.m. to take the train to watch Scott Tripp, Donna Tripp’s husband, run a race the bombing had prevented him from completing last year.

“Mostly we’ve come to watch him cross the finish line,” said Jacqui Tripp, 12, as she clutched a pole on the T, Boston’s subway, on her way to mile 17 of the route. “I’m proud of my dad.”

Jacqui and her twin sister wore matching yellow and blue “Boston Strong” T-shirts, the slogan that has come to represent the city’s resilience after the attack.

Last year, Scott Tripp was about a mile short of the finish line on Boylston Street when the bombs were detonated. His family, which was among the crowd, heard the explosions.

“We are here with mixed emotions,” Donna Tripp said Monday, recounting the three hours of confusion and anxiety it took to reconnect with her husband after the bombing. “But we’re ‘Boston Strong.’”

Referring to a year of grief that continues to grip the city, Donna Tripp said, “I don’t think this will be the end of everything, but it will make people stronger knowing we don’t fear what they want us to fear.”

This year’s starting field included 600 people who were given special invitations for those who were “profoundly impacted” by the attacks, and almost 5,000 runners, like Scott Tripp, who were stopped on the course last year when the bombs went off.

“Today, when I got to that point, I said, ‘I have to do some unfinished business,’” said runner Vicki Schmidt, 52, of Nashville, Tenn. She added: “You can’t hold us back. You can’t get us down. Boston is magical. This is our place.”

“We’re marathon runners. We know how to endure,” said Dennis Murray, a 62-year-old health-care administrator from Atlanta who finished just before the explosions last year and returned to run again. “When they try to take our freedom and our democracy, we come back stronger.”

Before the start of the race Monday, a young woman was overwhelmed with emotion and began sobbing near the finish line. A police officer approached and the two spoke for several minutes.

He said later that the woman had not been back to Boylston Street since last year and that being there had brought back a surge of frightening memories. The officer said he told her that he had been there, too, and that he understood how she felt. The best thing, he said, was for her to let her feelings out.

After the conversation, the young woman regrouped, went through security and walked down Boylston Street.

The race is steeped in tradition. It is the world’s oldest annually contested marathon - Monday’s event is the 118th running of the race - and is held the third Monday in April to coincide with Patriots’ Day, which commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord,the first military engagements of the American Revolution. It is a school holiday and features a morning Red Sox game, a mix that typically creates a boisterous, party-like atmosphere around the region.

Dan Mercurio, who completed the race last year and was waiting for a friend to finish when the bombs exploded, was among those who returned Monday. He lost his hearing for several hours, he said, but was otherwise uninjured.

“I definitely think it’s going to be tough for me to turn onto Boylston,” Mercurio said, referring to the street where the race ends and where the bombs went off. “Just knowing how close I was last year, knowing exactly what I saw.”

He added, “I think mentally for me, though, I have to go through this experience, to help me fully get back to normal.”

There is no denying that this year’s marathon was different. At 6 a.m., more than 100 National Guard soldiers began walking the entire route, from Hopkinton to Copley Square in Boston.

A moment of silence was held at 8:45 a.m. for those who died in the bombing and aftermath of last year’s marathon: Krystle Campbell, 29; Lu Lingzi, 23; and Martin Richard, 8, all spectators who were killed at the finish line; and Sean Collier, 27, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer killed a few days later amid the search for two suspects in the bombing.

It also honored the more than 260 people who were injured, as well as the police officers, firefighters, medical personnel and bystanders who rushed in to help.

A second moment of silence was observed at 2:49 p.m., the time of the first explosion, by the crowd at the finish line - then broke into some of the loudest cheers of the day, with whooping, clapping and the clanging of cowbells.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, is awaiting trial in the attack and could get the death penalty. Prosecutors said he and his older brother - ethnic Chechens who came to the U.S. from Russia more than a decade ago - carried out the attack in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim lands.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police days after the bombings.

“It was a hard last year,” Lee Ann Yanni, whose left leg was badly hurt in the bombing, said moments after crossing the finish line. “And we’re just so much better and stronger.”

Dave Shaw, 49, a runner from Houston, expressed the defiant spirit that motivated many of the marathoners and spectators. He did not run last year, he said, but as soon as he heard that bombs had disrupted the race, he vowed to take part this year.

“I knew I would come because the terrorists were telling me I couldn’t,” said Shaw, who was wearing the orange running jacket that distinguished this year’s participants.

“And if you blow me up this year,” he added, “there will be two people to take my place next year.”

Officials said they were providing an unprecedented level of security, while still allowing spectators to enjoy race day as they always have. Security planning began last summer and included consultations with police departments in cities including New York and London that have also experienced terrorist attacks.

About 3,500 law enforcement officers, including the Boston police, state police and the FBI, were assigned to the race, double the number from last year. SWAT teams were deployed along the route, along with numerous surveillance cameras. Hundreds of emergency personnel monitored the race from the state’s emergency center in Framingham.

Medical workers set up extra tents, and bigger ones, to accommodate the additional runners and larger crowds. Emergency workers were given tourniquets. More ambulances stood at the ready.

As runners continued to cross the finish line in the late afternoon, more than six hours into the race, state emergency officials reported no security threats other than some unattended bags.

Spectators - many of whom encountered checkpoints, metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs - had been urged to leave bags and strollers at home and carry their belongings in clear plastic bags.

On Monday, they sat in folding chairs along the course and were packed four and five deep on the sidewalk in the most coveted spots on Boylston Street.

Megan Stanley, 23, and her mother, Vicki, 55, visiting from Kansas City, Mo., had staked out a spot in front of the Forum restaurant, where the second bomb went off last year. They were unaware of the significance of where they were standing, having just found the spot open, but they said it did not bother them.

“I haven’t felt uneasy once,” Megan said, adding that her primary focus was wanting her father, who was running, to do well.

Another spectator was Paul Kulpan, 61, of Boston, who lost his left leg five years ago after an accident. He said that as an amputee, he normally felt alone and isolated, but on Monday he felt a sense of solidarity, in part because 16 people had to undergo amputations after last year’s blasts.

“When you lose a leg, you feel like you’re on the outside looking in,” he said. “But now I feel a bond. Now I feel like the world is a better place.”

Looking out on the thousands of spectators, he added, “This means a lot to me, to see that people still care.” Information for this article was contributed by Katharine Q.Seelye, Jess Bidgood, Dina Kraft and Timothy Williams of The New York Times and Jimmy Golen, Rik Stevens, Philip Marcelo, Michelle R. Smith, Bob Salsberg, Denise Lavoie, Steve Peoples, Paige Sutherland, Steve LeBlanc, Bill Kole, Ken Powtak, Amy Crawford, Howard Ulman and Pat Eaton-Robb of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/22/2014

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