RELATIVES of the 347 British and 108 Irish runners taking part in the Boston marathon are waiting updates from their loved ones following yesterday’s double explosion at the Boston Marathon.
Stowmarket Striders last night tweeted to say that one of their runners, Frank Moggan, had finished the race in 3 hours 52 minutes and he and his wife were safely away from the scene when the bombs went off.
He has since been in contact with running colleague Jo Stephenson, who said: “Frank is one of my very closest running buddies and has been a huge inspiration to me and many others at the club. We had a very sickly half hour waiting to hear from him.”
The explosions in Boston come six days before the London Marathon and police in the capital are today undertaking a mass safety review but have confirmed the world-famous race will go ahead.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has spoken to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe about the possibility of extra security for the London Marathon.
Mr Johnson said: “The bombings in Boston are shocking, cowardly and horrific, and the thoughts of all Londoners this morning will be with the victims. Boston is a proud city built on history, tradition and a real sense of community.
“These attacks were aimed at its core, at innocent men, women and children enjoying a spring day out at a major sporting event. We do have robust security measures in place for Sunday’s London Marathon, but given events in Boston it’s only prudent for the police and the organisers of Sunday’s race to re-examine those security arrangements.”
Meanwhile, British runners in Boston have been describing the chaos following the explosions.
British runners described how they avoided being caught up in the deadly explosions by a matter of minutes.
Some 347 of the 25,000 taking part in the race were British and several told of the aftermath of the two blasts.
Jez Hughes, a firefighter from Morley, west Yorkshire, was walking to the subway with his wife when they heard two explosions.
He had been standing only 100 yards from the finish line with other competitors after completing his 10th marathon but walked around the corner to meet his wife.
“While we were going to the subway we heard two explosions. I said straight away that sounds like a bomb and then we heard a second one,” Mr Hughes, who was running for The Fire Fighters Charity, said.
“My wife is very shook up but we are out here until Thursday evening and no terrorists are going to spoil our day, don’t let them get the better of you.
Darren Foy, 40, from Southampton, his wife Sandra and their two children, missed the explosions by just half an hour after he finished the marathon in three and a half hours.
The chartered surveyor, who is chairman of the Lordshill Road Runners in Southampton and was competing in his fourth marathon, said: “There are reports here that the explosions came from a hotel at the finish line and I walked past there a few days ago to pick up my race number.
“It’s such a soft target. There are hundreds of thousands spectators on the streets and 27,000 runners, so we got off lightly.”
Mark Jenkin, a 34-year-old sports writer from Barnstaple in Devon, said the explosion had put the race into perspective.
After finishing 138th in a time of 2 hours 24 minutes, he told his paper, the North Devon Journal: “It’s a beautiful spring afternoon in Boston. The people of the city put on a great race and it’s such a tragedy this has happened.
“I was feeling tired and a bit disappointed with my time in the race but all that seems irrelevant now. I just feel grateful to be OK.”
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