Pu
- Published on April 15th, 2013
- Teresa
Wright
Prince Edward Island residents rocked by bombs detonated at Boston
Marathon including one woman who crossed the finish line moments
before explosions
-
Beverly Walsh had just crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon
Monday when she turned around and saw two bombs exploding along the
route where she had been running just moments earlier.
“I didn’t know what it was right away. I thought, ‘Bomb,’
and then I thought no, that’s being too negative,” Walsh said in
a telephone interview with The Guardian Monday evening.
That’s when someone told her to start running again – this
time for her life.
Her husband was nearby, waiting to watch her finish the race.
Walsh could see him, but could not get to him.
“He was in the family area where I couldn’t get, then he cut
out in front of me running and I shouted to him, so we were
together,” she said.
“Then I thought, ‘Well at least we’ll die together.’ I
shouldn’t be saying that, but that’s what went through my mind.”
Walsh was one of 19 Islanders running in the Boston Marathon
Monday when two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing at least
three people and injuring over 140 others, according to numbers
released at press time.
Dianne Pye of Charlottetown was still running the marathon when
she heard the twin blasts.
She was half a kilometer from the finish line.
“I could hear them when I was running but, of course, did not
realize at the time what the explosions were. It almost sounded like
people banging on drums,” Pye told The Guardian in a telephone
interview.
She kept running, pushing hard now for this last leg of her race
when someone began yelling and people around began stopping.
“I stopped because everybody was stopping and they made an
announcement that we couldn’t go because there were bombs at the
finish line,” Pye said.
Once she heard this, her immediate concern was her husband’s
safety.
“Where is my husband and what has happened to him, that’s what
was going through my mind,” she said.
Her husband Grant was at the finish line, waiting to watch her
cross when the explosions went off.
He had been tracking his wife’s progress online and knew she was
close when he saw the blasts of smoke and fire that sent people
running and screaming in all directions.
He tore down the fence in front of him and went rushing toward the
finish line in an attempt to find her.
“He was afraid at that point, because they were saying that
there could be more (bombs),” Pye said.
“All he could think about was how close I may be to the finish
line. He knew I should be coming anytime.”
“Then I thought, ‘Well at least we’ll die
together.’ I shouldn’t be saying that, but that’s what went
through my mind,” - Beverly Walsh
He was quickly stopped by officials who herded him and other
concerned spectators to a location further away from the scene.
Meanwhile, Pye had also been ushered to a secure area with other
terrified runners and spectators.
No one knew what was happening and everyone was worried about
friends and family.
“People were crying and there were a lot of female runners who
were very upset and worried, because of course we all have family at
the finish line and we didn’t know who was injured and who wasn’t
injured. It could have been any one of our family members,” Pye
said.
Finally, she was able to get to her belongings where she used her
cell phone to call her husband. They were both so relieved to hear of
each other’s safety.
Another Islander, Kimberly Bailey, was also running in the
marathon on Monday. She had her headphones on and was about 700
metres from the finish line when she was met with a wall of runners
who had stopped suddenly.
“When I came up against it, there was a lot of pandemonium. A
lot of confusion, a lot of people crying, a lot of people were
talking about bombs… people were visibly upset.”
Bailey said she just couldn’t believe it was a bomb.
“I was just stymied by it and really in disbelief. I thought
there must have been an electrical explosion, it’s an old city.”
A marathon veteran with over 60 races under her belt, Bailey said
she never imagined this marathon would be one to be concerned about.
“I’ve done crazy Canadian death races, the ‘sinister seven’
where you’re out by yourself in the woods at night with bears,”
she said.
“If I thought I was going to be in any kind of risk, it would
have been being attacked by a bear or a cougar in the north of
Alberta, not at the Boston Marathon.”
It has been reported to the P.E.I. Roadrunners all marathon
participants from P.E.I. are safe.
twright@theguardian.pe.ca
Twitter.com/GuardianTeresa
