These 10 athletes will inspire you this Marathon Monday
The 128th Boston Marathon will take place on April 15.
The 128th edition of the Boston Marathon is fast approaching, which means 30,000 athletes will soon descend upon the city for one of the world’s elite marathons.
Within the pool of participants are talented and inspirational athletes, each with a story worth sharing and a powerful reason for their 26.2 mile journey.
Each year, Boston.com highlights athletes whose stories are particularly impactful. This year, that list includes a 26-year-old cancer survivor, a six-time Boston Marathon men’s wheelchair division winner, a soon-to-be Sixth Star Journey finisher, and more. Here are 10 athletes who will inspire you this Marathon Monday.
Bristol Hartlage
Bristol Hartlage has been pursuing a goal of running a marathon in all 50 states since 2013, and is set to achieve that goal by completing the Boston Marathon this year. The 42-year-old Navy veteran from Raleigh, North Carolina will also tick off the sixth of the World Marathon Majors and finish her Six Star Journey.
Hartlage is running to raise money for Good Sports, Inc., a charity dedicated to providing underprivileged children with access to sports equipment and opportunities.
“This has been a wonderfully fun and challenging goal and I’m so pleased to be making the finale extra meaningful by shining the light on others,” she said in her fundraising page.
Chris Hatton
The reasons why Chris Hatton is running his first-ever marathon this year are two-fold: first, to support cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and second, to beat his own cancer for good.
The 56-year-old from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey is currently undergoing treatment for recurrent prostate cancer. The treatment regimen is extremely hard on the body “and leaves you feeling weak and unmotivated,” he told Boston.com. Wanting to challenge himself, he decided to run the Boston Marathon to inspire his family and friends still in Massachusetts.
“I hope to inspire them and many to not let anything keep you down. If I can finish this I can beat my cancer,” he said.
Chris Nikic
Chris Nikic, the first person with Down Syndrome to complete an Ironman Triathlon, will be running his third Boston Marathon this year. The triathlete recently completed his sixth major marathon after running the Tokyo Marathon in early March. As a result, he has finished his Six Star Journey for running Boston, New York City, Chicago, Berlin, London, and Tokyo.
In 2022, the Boston Marathon reserved bib no. 321 for Nikic, in honor of March 21 (the day 3-21), which is the date for World Down Syndrome Day, according to CBS News Boston.
Fast-forward to 2024, as Boston has a true category for neurodivergent athletes, the Adaptive Program for Runners. Nikic heralded the category as “real inclusion” on Instagram.
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Erin Morrissey
Erin Morrissey, 26, of Downtown Boston is a cancer survivor running her third Boston Marathon this Monday. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with an extremely rare, and typically very aggressive cancer called adrenocortical carcinoma. Luckily, she caught the disease early, was able to receive care at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is now cancer free.
Morrissey will run the marathon once again on behalf of pediatric oncology at Mass General Hospital, the place that saved her life. The first year she ran the Boston Marathon (2021), she was in the middle of a two and a half year course of chemotherapy. When she ran for the second time in 2023, she had just completed treatment and was beginning a long road to recovery. Third time’s the charm in 2024, and she’s feeling better than ever.
“Now that I am officially done with radiation and chemo, and feeling better than I have in the past four years, I am ready to CRUSH marathon #3!” she told Boston.com in an email.
Gary Abrahamsen
After completing the Boston Marathon this year, Gary Abrahmsen will complete his Six Star Journey by running all six World Major Marathons.
The 64-year-old from Camas, Washington ran his first marathon in 2017 at the age of 58. He told Boston.com running has helped him lose significant weight, and given him the physical and mental support through two cancer surgeries and radiation treatment. Not to mention that it even helped his marriage: “I can even give running some credit for my 33 year marriage,” he added.
Abrahmsen is running Boston to fundraise for Health Imperatives, an organization that aims to improve the health and well-being of low-income families and individuals in Southeastern Massachusetts. He said since his wife first ran Boston in 2018, “the spirit of ‘pay it forward’ has been intertwined with running and Boston like no other city.”
“Everyone who gets to the start line at Hopkinton has a story to tell. Those stories often tell how even though we may run alone, we haven’t gotten here alone. I am running Boston to help others because of the others who have helped me,” he wrote in Boston.com’s “Why I’m Running” series.
Jason Pett
After completing the New York City Marathon in 2017, Jason Pett, 50, of Cooksville, Maryland had planned to run the Boston Marathon in 2019. He only had to cut five minutes off his time to be able to qualify and began training in May 2018. But what started off as a normal training session turned into a fight for his life.
“Everything seemed to be going fine, I turned around at the 2.5 mile marker…and I woke up 11 days later on June 6th 30 pounds lighter and with a new liver,” he wrote on his fundraising page.
Pett experienced a massive heat stroke on his first day back into training, followed by a dozen hospitalizations for other complications and illness. Six years later, he has set his sights on the Marathon once more and promised his two sons (who now attend Boston College) that he would complete it.
“After I find a way to make it up Heartbreak Hill, I anticipate the joy of seeing my boys cheering me on. I had no idea how that would even be possible at the time, when I struggled to walk up the stairs of my house, but I made a commitment, and with your help, I will fulfill that commitment.”
Jennifer Gaspar
Jennifer Gaspar, 44, of Franklin is running Boston in memory of her son, Nick, who passed away last year from a rare brain tumor. Gaspar is running for Boston Children’s Hospital, alongside two individuals running for the Nick Strong Foundation.
Nick was 14 years old and finishing up 8th grade when he was diagnosed with a Mixed Germ cell tumor in 2021. After fighting the cancer and undergoing surgery, a stem cell transplant, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Nick passed away on May 19, 2023.
“Whenever I want to give up, I think of Nick and how he never quit, even on the toughest days,” Gaspar wrote on her fundraising page. “I hope to bring awareness to others and continue to raise funds for pediatric cancer so that someday kids can just be kids, without cancer.”
Marcel Hug
Six-time Boston Marathon men’s wheelchair division winner Marcel Hug hopes to go for his seventh win this month. The Swiss paralympic athlete has been wheelchair racing since childhood, and told Boston.com it’s “very special” to participate in the Boston Marathon. Sure, the “great atmosphere and spectators” are some of the reasons he returns to Boston year after year, but what really keeps him coming back is the course.
“It’s a very historic and iconic marathon and a challenging course with the downhills and the appeals,” he said in an interview.
Also known as the “Silver Bullet” for his iconic competition helmet, Hug hopes his continued participation in the marathon will inspire other disabled athletes.
“Sport is a big passion of mine. It has had a great impact on me and my life, and I really hope that I can inspire other athletes or other people in wheelchairs by doing my sport,” he said.
Mary Anne Pell
Mary Anne Pell was making the turn onto Hereford Street in 2013 when the Boston Marathon bombing occurred. She was 1,000 yards away from the blast, and while she wasn’t injured, she suffered from PTSD.
The 61-year-old Phoenix native is running her 18th Boston Marathon in support of Rebekah’s Angels, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established by Boston Marathon bombing survivor Rebekah Gregory to provide mental health treatment to children and families suffering from trauma.
“Her charity rose from Boylston and created good from tragedy. So many helped me and others in 2013 that I want to give back as a thank you. Rebekah Strong! Boston Strong!” she told Boston.com in our Why I’m Running series.
Thomas Panek
Blind runner Thomas Panek will be running his sixth Boston Marathon with Jed Laskowitz as his sighted guide. Panek, 53, of Yorktown Heights, New York is the president and CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a non-profit organization that provides guide dogs to people with vision loss at no cost to the recipient. The 128th Boston Marathon will be Panek’s first time running with Laskowitz, and Laskowitz’s first Boston Marathon.
“I get to show Jed the race, and he gets to show me where to go,” Panek told Boston.com in an interview. “It really is a wonderful, wonderful teamwork. He’ll be my eyes during the race, and I’ll be his guide,” he added.
Panek and Laskowitz will be running the marathon in support of Achilles International, a not-for-profit organization established by Dick Traum in 1983 to encourage people with disabilities to participate in mainstream athletics. Panek said visibility and the participation of disabled athletes in elite competitions like the Marathon is both important and inspiring.
“It’s incredibly important to have the ability to participate in the race and have people that step up and help with this dream,” Panek said. “I get inspired when I see athletes with other disabilities that are able to participate, and running on the Achilles team keeps me going.”
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