Washington – Boston runners are determined to put the shadow of the 2013 bombing behind them as they line up for the
119th Boston Marathon.
It has been two years since Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan set off homemade pressure cooker bombs near the finish line, bringing death, injury and chaos to the east coast city.
Tamerlan died in the manhunt, and Dzhokhar has been convicted of murder. The penalty phase of his trial starts on Tuesday.
But before then, more than 30,000 official participants will set off from the start line – elite women at 9:32 am (1332 GMT) and elite men at 10 am, the Boston Athletic Association said.
Runners this year hope for a brighter event after last year’s race, which marked the mournful one-year point since three people were killed near the finish line and a fourth – a police officer – during the manhunt.
“Last year was a year of remembrance,” Krasa Chambers, 41, a local resident who will be running, was quoted as saying by The Boston Globe.
“This is a world-class athletic event and it feels like that again,” she said.
The runners will include 5 400 participants from 86 countries outside the US.
The race also marks the end of one of the roughest winters in Boston history, with a record amount of snow – 275.8 centimetres for the season.
Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, noted his hopes on the race organizer’s website.
“After a very difficult winter for Boston’s visitor economy we are all looking forward to this year’s Boston Marathon and the remarkable spending impacts this historic event brings to our community,” he was quoted as saying. – ANA-DPA