For B.C. runners, explosions mark a Boston Marathon they won’t forget

Langley’s Al McBeth won’t soon forget the sound of shattering glass and the choking stench of smoke that sent him running for his life on a sunny Monday afternoon in Boston.

Moments earlier, McBeth had been standing with his 22-year-old daughter Taylor McBeth in a crowd of thousands of jubilant spectators at the finish line of the prestigious Boston Marathon. The pair had been watching carefully for a glimpse of Cathy Gutkowski, McBeth’s wife and Taylor’s mom, who was due to complete her first Boston race any moment.

The first explosion sent glass, smoke and bodies “flying all over the place,” McBeth told Kamloops reporter Shelby Thom of CHNL Radio.

He and his daughter quickly hopped over a barricade and ran into the middle of the marathon course as a second blast erupted to the side, knocking dozens of panicked, bloodied people down onto the concrete road and sidewalks.

“I’ve got a very graphic image of a police officer running down the street with a little boy, probably three years old, in his arms saying, ‘Hang on,’” McBeth said.

The explosions, believed to be an act of terror, went off shortly before 3 p.m. local time.

More than 2,000 Canadians, including 232 from B.C., were registered in the event.

As of late Monday, no Canadians had been reported injured, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa.

In the immediate aftermath, many runners were still struggling to make sense of the violence, which, by press time had claimed three lives and injured more than 140, including eight children. Many victims are reported to be in critical condition.

“I don’t know what the world is coming to, that people can do these things,” a shaken Robin Watson, an elite runner from Vancouver, told The Sun in an interview from the Fairmont Copley Hotel, just metres from the blast site.

“You can ask all the questions in the world and you are never going to get an answer to why stuff like this happens. It’s horrible,” Watson said.

Victoria’s Susan Danard, 47, had just finished her first Boston Marathon when the bombs went off.

“I got across the finish line and had maybe five or 10 minutes at the most of just absolute joy and then heard a loud explosion. I looked behind me to see this smoke, and then there was a second one,” she said.

It didn’t make sense, at first. She thought perhaps it was a gun salute, part of the celebrations, but it quickly became evident something more serious was going on.

“There were billowing clouds of smoke. … The (race) volunteers were being instructed by police to get us to evacuate the area. We found out later they were looking for other explosive devices,” Danard said.

The race was also a first for Vancouver’s Mark Rozenberg, who finished in a time of 3:48. About 20 minutes later, he heard the first explosion when he was standing in a family meeting area across the street.

“It was terrifying,” he said. “It was a really loud boom. Everyone looked in that direction. Everyone saw white smoke or dust billowing up a couple of storeys.”

Watson, who placed 11th in the marathon with a time of 2:15, was eating lunch at the Fairmont Copley with his brother and sister-in-law, Pete and Kristin Watson of London, Ont., when the bombs went off about 10 seconds apart.

The three found themselves quickly ushered by hotel security into a locked room with hundreds of frantic guests while police and emergency crews descended on the chaotic scene immediately outside the hotel.

“We really didn’t know what to think,” Watson said of his initial reaction to the explosions. “We looked outside because we thought it was thunder, but it was sunny out. And then the security guards, the people who work for the hotel, they all took off. When they came back they told us they had the hotel on lockdown.”

Watson said many of the Americans in the room were immediately haunted by memories of 9/11 as everyone tried to piece together what was happening through Twitter feeds and comments on other social media sites.

“People were freaking out. There were lots of tears. People were running around. It was not a positive scene.”

Mateo Ocejo from Vancouver was standing about a block away on the steps of the John Hancock Building when he heard the first explosion. He knew it was a bomb, but tried to stay calm.

“The people in this country are a lot more sensitive to this kind of thing. A lady next to me grabbed me and started crying and said, ‘What happened?’”

Ocejo said he is scheduled to fly back to Vancouver today, but, like hundreds of race participants caught up in the events of the day, was uncertain whether travel out of the city would

be possible.

“It’s pretty crazy. There are police and military and all kinds of people all over the place,” he said.

John Atkinson, a two-time Boston Marathon participant from Sechelt who ran this year’s race in celebration of his 40th birthday, said competing in the marathon represents the peak of an athlete’s running career.

“It is the oldest marathon in the world and has all that tradition and heritage, and, because you have to qualify, it has that prestige … It’s one of the goals to tick off the list,” he said.

The violence, he said, is almost unthinkable, but it won’t stop him from returning to this and other big race events in the future. “You can’t let them win, can you?” he said. “We want to fight back and keep living our lives normally and keep doing what we want to do.”

Former federal Conservative cabinet minister from B.C. Stockwell Day made a similar vow. Day, 62, expected to run the marathon again this year with his sister after finishing well enough in 2012 to requalify. But an injury to his Achilles tendon forced him to back out at the last minute.

Day said he cried when he watched the news Monday afternoon.

“Whoever did this, they know this is the iconic dream race. It is a very inspirational symbol for people. I am not saying runners are more deserving of sympathy than any other victim, but this strikes to the heart of inspiration.”

Day encouraged runners to train hard and return to Boston next year to run “in memory of those who couldn’t finish this year and in defiance of those who would want us to live in fear.”

Premier Christy Clark called Monday’s events “a terrible, terrible piece of news,” noting many B.C. residents take part in the marathon.

“I want everyone to know that our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who is worried about a loved one today,” she said.