RI Race Director Charles Breagy Responds to Boston Marathon Explosion
Monday, April 15, 2013
Rhode Island's premier race director, Charles Breagy, said the Navigant Credit Union Running Festival Half Marathon and 5K scheduled for May 5 in Rhode Island will go on, despite tragic news from the explosions that have rocked the finish line of the Boston Marathon this afternoon.
"This is America," Breagy said. "No one is going to push us around. We went ahead with the Downtown 5k [in Providence] after 9/11 because president Bush told the country not to let the terrorists stop Americans doing what we do."
"I'm from Ireland," Breagy said, "I grew up with this." Breagy, who is friends with the owner of the Marathon Sports store near the finish line where one of the explosions took place, says he cannot understand why this race was targeted, but considered it potentially because of the interational scope of the event.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"But these are families," Breagy said. "It's disgusting."
Breagy also noted that the explosions took place hours after the elite runners had crossed the finish line, and that crowds were far diminished.
As for his race, which is scheduled for May 5th and will begin in Pawtucket, Breagy said that he expects runners to be ready to race and that he will spend time immediatley working with every town and police group in each town that is involved in the race route.
"This is horrible," he said. "Running is not the most glamorous sport. It's the working class man's sport. I have no explantation as to why someone would target this event. "
As for May, "We'll take every precaution," he said.
