Boston Marathon runners invited back next year. But will they run?
Signs are placed at a makeshift memorial for victims near the finish line of the Boston Marathon bombings two days after the second suspect was captured on April 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. A manhunt for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing ended after he was apprehended on a boat parked on a residential property in Watertown, Massachusetts. His brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, the other suspect, was shot and killed after a car chase and shootout with police. The bombing, on April 15 at the finish line of the marathon, killed three people and wounded at least 170.
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the city's athletic association is inviting runners unable to finish this year's marathon because of the bombings near the finish line to run again in 2014.
But will they want to return to the site of that horrible tragedy?
Some 5,700 runners could not make it to the finish line after two bombs exploded on Boylston Street on April 15.
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Boston Athletic Association Executive Director Tom Grilk said in a press release, "The opportunity to run down Boylston Street and to cross the finish line amid thousands of spectators is a significant part of the entire Boston Marathon experience."
He added, "Boston spectators are known for their impassioned support and unbridled enthusiasm, and they will give these returning athletes some of the loudest cheers at next year's race."
Next year's race is scheduled for April 21, 2014.
Vermont runner Ryan Polly, who could not finish this year's race and launched a petition on Change.org for returning runners said he was happy to hear the good news.
“We needed to finish, we needed to be able to cross the finish line,” Polly told The Boston Globe.
Polly is among a group of runners determined to compete next year but it is still too early for many participants and Boston residents to decide if they are ready to revisit that day.
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