{"id":64846,"date":"2013-04-17T14:43:57","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T18:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=64846"},"modified":"2023-11-21T11:02:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:02:36","slug":"marcus-82-boston-marathon-explosions-esquire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2013\/04\/17\/marcus-82-boston-marathon-explosions-esquire\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus \u201982 offers first-hand accounts of Boston Marathon bombings and aftermath for Esquire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blogging for Esquire <\/em>about the bombings at the Boston Marathon, writer Jon Marcus \u201982 offers two first-hand accounts: one of the chaotic scene at the finish line, the second about a “seemingly simple but symbolically poignant” grassroots group run through neighboring East Cambridge.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>

A Boston police officer shouts instructions on Boylston Street in Boston on April 15, 2013. Photograph by Bates photographer Mike Bradley, who was at the marathon earlier in the day and returned to cover the aftermath for a New York City media outlet.<\/p><\/div>\n

Marcus was reporting on the race when the bombs transformed Boylston Street just before 3 p.m. on April 15.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He describes the confusion<\/a><\/strong> but also the instant acts of help in the immediate aftermath of the blasts. Runners being treated for dehydration \u201cripped out their IVs and made space on the cots for the injured,\u201d he writes.<\/div>\n
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\"Bags<\/a>

After the bombing, runners weren’t able to collect belongings that had been transported back to Boston from the race start in Hopkinton. By evening on April 15, thousands of yellow plastic bags with runners’ gear had been collected near the finish line, including this pile on Berkeley Street. Photograph by Mike Bradley\/Bates College.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A veteran of the Boston Marathon himself, Marcus also reports<\/a> <\/strong>on\u00a0<\/strong>the group of nearly 300 runners who gathered in East Cambridge for a group run the next day. He writes:<\/p>\n

“In a city still shell-shocked by the Boston Marathon bombings, and with just a few hours\u2019 notice on social media and by word of mouth, some 270 runners answered the call put out by a local running club whose weekly get-togethers at the Courtside, a beloved dive bar, usually attract 30.”<\/p>\n

“Boston won\u2019t stop running.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The group’s route that evening covered both sides of the Charles River and raised $3,000 for victim relief.<\/p>\n

One of the organizers, P.J. Aspesi, tells Marcus that “we tried to figure out how we could come together afterward and help, and show everybody that Boston won\u2019t stop running.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a similar account for Runner’s World<\/strong><\/a> Marcus quotes organizer Kristine Antczak: \u201cBecause you attack one race, you won\u2019t stop us from doing what we love. Boston has a very scrappy spirit. It\u2019s hell-bent and determined.\u201d<\/div>\n