Father-Son Team To Run One Last Boston Marathon

Published April 11, 2014 at 12:50 PM CDT

Rick and Dick Hoyt, Boston Marathon stalwarts since 1981, by the Hamilton Reservoir behind their home in Holland, Mass. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Later this month is the 118th running of the Boston Marathon, and this year’s race is especially significant because it’s the first time it’s being run since last year’s bombing at the finish line. Because of that attack, two people will be taking part in this year’s Boston Marathon who hadn’t intended to be there: Dick and Rick Hoyt.

For years, some spectators have come out just to see them — the compact, muscular man and his quadriplegic son, the father running while pushing a wheelchair all 26.2 miles. Team Hoyt, they’re called, and they’ve been Boston Marathon stalwarts since 1981.

But last year, after three decades of competing in the race, Dick and Rick Hoyt decided 2013 would be their last. They never made it to the end, though; they were among the almost 6,000 runners stopped on the course when the bombs went off.

Here & Now’s Sacha Pfeiffer reports that Team Hoyt is running one last Boston Marathon, this time in honor of all the people killed and injured in last year’s attack.

Read more on this story via WBUR

Reporter

Sacha Pfeiffer, senior reporter and host of WBUR’s local All Things Considered. She also fills in as a host for Here & Now. Find her on twitter @SachaPfeiffer.