Boston Marathon: Bombing survivors complete 2016 race with prosthetic legs
An estimated 30,000 people took part in the 120th Boston Marathon
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Among the estimated 30,000 people who put themselves through the pain of the Boston marathon were two survivors of the 2013 bomb attack who completed the race using prosthetic limbs.
Adrianne Haslet and Patrick Downes are members of the One Fund community, made up of survivors of the attack, their relatives and supporters. A total of 31 competed in Monday’s 2016 race.
“A lot of people think about the finish line,” Ms Haslet told the Associated Press ahead of the race. “I think about the start line.”
Images posted on social media showed the pair, running separately, smiling and laughing as they made their way around the course. No small number of people wanted to get a hug from them.
Ms Haslet, wearing bib number 28487, could be seen making her way over the finish line at around 7.25pm, an effort that took more than 10 hours.
Among those who wanted to be be photographed with Ms Haslet was American football star Tom Brady.
“She’s on the course now, running the race for the first time – with a prosthetic leg,” Brady wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “Adrianne thank you for being my inspiration!!”
Mr Downes, 32, was a runner before the bombing, having completed the race in 2005 with his wife, who lost both legs in the attacks.
“I ran with the city in my heart,” he told WBZ-TV in interview after his finish, before adding that he was also thinking of bombing victims Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Krystle Campbell, as well as Officer Sean Collier.
Mr Downes completed the marathon with a finish time of 05:56:46. He crossed the finish line at 2.49pm - the time the first bomb exploded at the finish line in 2013 - and hugged his wife and fellow bombing survivor Jessica Kensky.
Ms Haslet, 35, was a professional ballroom dancer who received a prosthetic blade to do the quickstep and the jive, and only then decided to take up running, the news agency said.
Ms Haslet overcame a hip flexor injury while training; running with the blade also requires extra energy, because one leg is slightly longer than the other. She will run with a team of four people on behalf of the Oklahoma City-based Limbs for Life Foundation, which provides prosthetics for those who can't afford them.
“It was about finding another challenge, and finding a new day. There was a point in my life I wasnt a ballroom dancer, either,” she said.
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