Race event rescheduled for Sept. 14 amid coronavirus concerns
Yarmouth County resident Ian Cunningham ran the Boston Marathon last year.
The world’s most famous running event has been postponed as a result of the coronavirus.
The 124th edition of the Boston Marathon was originally scheduled for April 20, but has been moved to Sept. 14.
Word of the race’s postponement came March 12, the same day the NHL announced it was suspending its season and Major League Baseball called off the remainder of spring training. On March 11, the NBA had announced it was suspending its season. Since then, there has been an ongoing list of sporting leagues and events that have been suspended or cancelled.
For many runners, the third Monday in April — Patriots’ Day — is a special date on the calendar.
Denise Robson, a Yarmouth native living in Cole Harbour, has run Boston 10 times and was looking forward to toeing the line again next month, saying she’s been training well and feels “super fit.”
Robson was the women’s masters champion at Boston in 2010. Injuries prevented her from running the race the past few years.
Like other runners contacted for this story, she said organizers made the right decision in postponing the race, given the health risk. While disappointing, she said it was “the right call, absolutely.”
Yarmouth County runner Angie Saulnier, who ran Boston two years ago, offered a similar view, saying it was “a tough decision but a smart choice to postpone.”
Saulnier hadn’t planned on doing Boston this year; she’s looking to run a race later in the spring, but said she understands the disappointment for runners who had been aiming for Boston. However, she said, given that Boston is such a big, international event, it opens up a very large door to spread a virus without a vaccine.
“I think a postponement is valid.”
Ian Cunningham, a Yarmoutharea runner who did Boston in 2019 but wasn’t going this year, said organizers did the right thing. He said postponement is better than cancellation, meaning there’s still hope that people will get to do the marathon this year, assuming things settle down and life gets back to normal.
“At least they’re going to give them a chance to run it,” he said. “People work super hard to qualify (for Boston).”
Marco Albright, a runner from the Yarmouth area who has done Boston four times, wasn’t going to run it this year, but hopes to qualify for next year’s race if he can get the training in. Like others, he said organizers made the right call to postpone the event.
“Considering (there would be) such a cluster of people running and spectating, it would be a concern for sure,” he said.