Of the 30 runners from Long Beach competing in the Boston Marathon this morning, most have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported after two major explosions rocked buildings near the finish line, killing two and injuring dozens more.
Two major running groups in the city–SoleRunners and A Running Experience Club–both reported via Facebook that all of their members were safe and accounted for. A Running Experience Club (AREC) President David Kuntz verified with the Post that of the club’s 500 members, there were at least 20 competing in the Boston Marathon today and that he has been able to confirm that no one in his group was near the finish line at the time of the explosions.
{loadposition latestnews}”We’re still picking up the pieces over here, but it seems like when the news broke, our runners already finished,” he said. “When I heard about it, I was just heartsick, just like everyone else in the running community. Thank goodness for social media; between Facebook and email we were able to account for everybody.”
AREC’s runners accounted for about two-thirds of those listed on the Boston Athletic Associations website as being from Long Beach. Representatives from SoleRunners had yet to return requests for comment, so it is unknown how many they sent, however, there are three runners who do not have finish times listed on the site, which would indicate that they either did not compete or did not cross the finish line before the explosions took place.
Officials with both the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach–which is expected to bring more than 200,000 people to Downtown Long Beach this weekend–as well as the Port of Long Beach said they were also adding security as a response to the explosions at the Boston Marathon.
To view a list of all the runners from Long Beach that were there today, click here.