TEDY BRUSCHI THANKS BOSTON MARATHON START TEAM; CALLS RACE 'BRUTAL'
THE METROWEST DAILY NEWS
Race Director Dave McGillivray said he ran into a runner at the Buffalo Marathon last week who said the most special part of the Boston Marathon is the starting line in Hopkinton.
HOPKINTON — Former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who ran the Boston Marathon this year for his charity, Tedy’s Team, returned to the start Thursday night to thank volunteers for the work they put into making the race possible.
Bruschi’s charity had 49 runners in this year’s race.
“Running the race is brutal,” he told the group of about 100 gathered at the New England Laborers Training Center.
The Hopkinton Marathon Committee celebrated its 40th anniversary at the annual post-marathon party. The committee works with the Boston Athletic Association to ensure the start of the annual Boston Marathon is an exciting, successful and safe event for all, according to its website.
“I don’t know if any of you see the finish because you are all at the start, but at the finish you just see the incredible journey that it’s been for them,” Bruschi said. “But I want you to understand that journeys also have starts and you make the start very, very special for everyone.”
Dorothy Ferrier-Wallace, who has served as chairwoman for 21 years, said the committee started in 1979.
“It’s the people who make this race,” she said. “It’s all of you who make this race. I’ve made so many connections over the years ... there are runners coming in from all over the world.”
Race Director Dave McGillivray said he ran into a runner at the Buffalo Marathon last week who said the most special part of the Boston Marathon is the starting line in Hopkinton.
“I was just surprised by that response,” he said. “I said, ‘Yeah, not the finish?’” She said it takes a lot more to get to the start than it does to get to the finish.”
State Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, honored newly elected Select Board member Mary Jo LaFreniere for her 23 years on the committee before stepping down to run for the town’s top elected board. Dykema also gave a citation to Steve Beck, executive director of the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation, which collects runners’ clothes and sneakers that are left at the start.
Beck said this year’s start was challenging with driving rain and thunderstorms in the morning.
Bruschi ran his first marathon in 2012, then repeated in 2014 and ran his personal best (4 hours, 35 minutes) this year.
“I call it the Super Bowl of road races, and I compare the three medals that I’ve earned in the Boston Marathon to my three Super Bowl rings,” he said. “They are that special to me.”