MARBLEHEAD — When the coronavirus pandemic hit it quickly became clear that the Boston Marathon was going to look very different for runners this year. The race went from being postponed to eventually going fully virtual, leaving runners on their own to plan how and where to run in an event that’s usually big on community.
Thankfully in Marblehead, Tim Sullivan and a handful of local runners were able to make their own finish line at Devereux Beach this weekend.
“I kind of saw the writing on the wall a long time ago and I organized this race,” Sullivan said. “The Boston Athletic Association basically set up a timeline right from Labor Day to this weekend to do your own version of the marathon since we couldn’t all get together in Boston.”
The race worked out beautifully Saturday morning, with runners covering a figure eight-shaped course through town that finished at Ocean Avenue along the beach.
“With everything that we’ve been through with the pandemic, we weren’t able to train together and run together,” Sullivan said just after completing the race himself. “I was looking for a way to try to get some slice of community for this event. We just wanted to grab onto a little slice of community, and it came together better than I even could have imagined.”
In total, 13 runners participated in the makeshift Boston Marathon at Marblehead, each running for a good cause.
“Eleven of us are from Mass. General Hospital,” Sullivan said. “Eight run for pediatric cancer, three are running for the emergency medicine program, and then two runners are from Mass. Eye and Ear.”
“That’s really what it’s all about,” Sullivan said of the fundraising. “Keeping it going, getting some publicity and raising some money. All these organizations are so incredible. They do remarkable work, and just like everyone they’re hurting a little bit too during the pandemic.”
Sullivan is one of those runners who completes the marathon for pediatric cancer. He started running the race in tribute of his daughter’s late friend Megan Sheehy.
“I was just speaking to the parents of Megan, who passed away in 2014,” Sullivan said. “She had osteosarcoma for a year and each year since then I’ve run in her memory. I’m on number six now: I’ve done five times in Bostons and this is my sixth ‘Boston.'”
Fundraising for this year’s race was more challenging than in the past for a number of reasons, but this weekend runners got to cap off that hard work and cross a finish line while being cheered on by a group of thankful patients and their families along the beach.
“It’s definitely been more challenging,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s less the fact that it went virtual and more that it’s just tough times for people. It’s just not as easy to give and it’s hard to ask. People are having trouble.
“But some extra motivation that we got this year is that those troubles trickle down to some of the patients and their families,” Sullivan said. “A lot of the money raised through the marathon program is actually going towards financial assistance for families that really need it.”
