Three local runners are safe after Boston Marathon tragedy
Three Cayman Islands runners, Derek Larner, Tom Gammage and Beth Florek who participated in Monday’s (15) Boston Marathon are safe and well after the double bomb explosion near the run’s finish line.
The three Caymanian runners had already completed the race when the bombs went off.
CITN/Cayman27 reported they had spoken to Derek Larner who also confirmed that their partners who accompanied the three men to Boston were also safe and unhurt.
After the blasts Monday, some officials reported that explosive devices that failed to go off were found. U.S. Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts, who serves on the Homeland Security committee, said there were two.
But Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced Tuesday (16) that there were only two bombs — the two that exploded at the marathon, killing three people and wounding 176.
Please see separate iNews Cayman story of the Boston marathon bombings.
Also from Turks & Caicos Sun
Turks And Caicos Islands resident escapes injury in Boston Marathon bombing
By Hayden Boyce, Editor-in-Chief
Lynn Robinson, a resident of the Turks and Caicos Islands, was one of the 26, 000 persons who entered and completed the Boston Marathon on Monday April 15th, but she was not hurt in the deadly bomb blast that marred the event.
Robinson, an expatriate who works with Big Blue as a senior boat captain and dive instructor, had finished the marathon ten minutes before the blast occurred.
In an exclusive interview with The SUN, Robinson said she and other runners are all “thanking our lucky stars today that we all escaped unharmed and our thoughts and prayers are with those who were less fortunate”.
She added: “The blasts happened about 15 minutes after I had finished the race. It had been an amazing day up until that point with wonderful support from all the spectators all along the route from Hopkinton to Boston. I finished in a time of 3 hours, 54 minutes and had just collected my medal, foil blanket and water and was just about to collect my belonging from the baggage buses when the first blast happened. Myself and other finishers looked around to see clouds billowing up just before the finish line, then the second blast occurred a little further down.”
She added: “I was too far down from the mayhem to realise what was happening but we all had a feeling it wasn’t good news. I collected my bag, retrieved my phone and immediately received a text message from my Mum in England congratulating me on my run and finish time….she had been following my progress online. I immediately texted her back to let her know I was fine and asked her to check the news as something terrible had happened. Sirens were then sounding as emergency vehicles were coming from all directions but still nobody really knew what was going on. Mum then texted back to confirm that there had been two explosions at the finish line.”
The 45-year-old runner continued: “In the meantime I received a message from friends I was staying with in Boston asking if I was ok….little did I know at that time that they had been seconds away from the blast. They had been standing near the location of the second blast waiting to cheer me on as I ran past. They then received a message from another family member telling them I had already finished just moments before so they started to walk down towards the finish line. Sheri wanted to take a photo of the finish and the flags so she told the rest of the family to wait a moment while she took the picture. 20 seconds later the first blast occurs just a couple of storefronts down from where they were standing. If she hadn’t have taken the picture they would have been right where the blast occurred. They made their way onto Newbury Street where they came across a woman who had been carried to safety by another spectator. Her leg was seriously injured and they assisted as much as they could prior to the medics arriving at the scene. Today I ran 3 miles in memory of the victims while wearing my Boston Marathon 2013 running shirt and a commemorative bib….I obviously didn’t run fast enough yesterday as I can usually hardly walk after running 26.2 miles!!”
At least three persons, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed when two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning what is normally a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction.
Robinson, who is a native of Newscastle, is an active member of the Provo Road Runners Club and was the only person from the Turks and Caicos Islands who entered the event.
Big Blue owner Phillip Shearer told The SUN he was happy to know that his employee of close to ten years was unhurt.
“We’ve been in contact with her ever since the incident and it’s really good to know she’s safe,” he said.
Around 150 people are being treated, with at least 17 of them in critical condition and another 25 in serious condition. At least 10 of the people injured had limbs amputated.
Runners from seven other Caribbean countries entered the marathon. There were two from Aruba, five from The Bahamas, 16 from Bermuda, one from the British Virgin Islands, three from the Cayman Islands, three from the Dominican Republic and six from Trinidad and Tobago.
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