Toronto man gifts Boston Marathon medal to first-time marathoner

Kevin Curnock spent months preparing for the Boston Marathon; it would be his second time running the race but the seasoned marathon had completed 12 since 2003.

“It’s Boston…. There’s something like one to two million people who line the course,” he said.

“So there is this excitement and it’s electric. The air is electric…. You feel really nervous and you do all the training and then hope that on race day it all comes together.”

On the day of the race, however, Curnock said he was disappointed in his results. The Toronto man said despite all the training, he didn’t meet his goal.

“It was a lot slower than I wanted. About 35 minutes slower than my goal pace,” Curnock said.

He had completed the race in three and a half hours and was given a medal to mark his achievement of completing the race.

He and his partner Kate Brown then headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

“I slowly made my way back to the hotel and showered, got changed and then it was time to get a couple drinks and go have dinner,” he said.

The couple had finished dinner and headed back across the race course to head to the hotel, but someone had caught Curnock’s eye: a marathoner steadily made her way to the finish line.

“The finish line is being brought down and we see this one runner cruising up the street,” he said.

Brown said she recalled reading the print on the back of the runner’s uniform.

“On the back of her jersey said, ‘Tayla… this is my first marathon,'” she said.

Tayla Savage said she was inspired to run the marathon about a year ago.

“It was this time last year…. My husband and I were at breakfast and I said to him, ‘I really want to run the Boston marathon,’ but I don’t think I could and at the moment something triggered in my brain that I was going to make that happen,” Savage said.

She spent the year training and as a first-timer, she was able to qualify after raising over $10,000 for a charity called Cradles to Crayons.

Her goal for race day was to reach the finish line.

“I made it my mission to finish,” Savage said.

“My measurement of success had nothing to do with the time and had nothing to do with anything other than crossing the finish line.”

Seven and a half hours after the start of the race, Savage said she reached the finish line and she was met by cheering family and onlookers.

“It just felt surreal. I can’t describe it other than it just didn’t feel real,” she said.

After crossing the finish line, Savage approached a volunteer to ask about the medal she would be awarded for finishing the race, but the volunteer informed her that they had run out.

“Of course, that was a little disappointing because when I had envisioned running for the past year, that was a moment I envisioned as well,” she said.

At that point, Curnock — who had been cheering Savage on — jumped in and offered the medal around his neck.

“I said you deserve this and I took the medal from around my neck and gave it to her,” he said.

“It felt very special. She was very gracious and said, ‘No you can’t give me this’ … and I said, ‘Absolutely, you deserve this.’ This was her first marathon and she worked really hard.”

Both Curnock and Savage said the 2023 Boston Marathon is a day they will both cherish, fondly.

“It was more than just giving me a medal,” said Savage.

“That medal was a demonstration of me not giving up on myself and me achieving my dream to run Boston and also the demonstration of the goodness and kindness in the world.”

For Curnock, while he didn’t achieve the time he wanted, he said it’s one of the most memorable marathons he’s ever run.

“Kindness wins and it’s not always the time on the clock that matters,” he said.