With Martin Richard's best friends, Team MR8 kicks off final Boston Marathon training season
BOSTON - Ten years marks a passage of time long enough to experience profound changes. April 15, 2023 will mark ten years since the marathon bombings on Boylston Street. In that time, the Martin Richard Foundation, named for the youngest bombing victim, has raised millions of dollars for programs and organizations dedicated to inclusion, public service, youth athletics and leadership. Martin's legacy has created a community that is dedicated to uplifting young people and families.
Rachel Moo was Martin's second grade teacher. He made his poignant "NO MORE HURTING PEOPLE. PEACE" sign in her class. And she made him a promise that, when he turned 18, they would run the Boston Marathon together. At the time, Rachel was not a runner. But the event was so far in the future that there seemed no harm in agreeing to the goal.
Rachel joined Team MR8 within months of Martin's death. Her first road race was the 2014 Boston Marathon. Since then, she has run marathons all over the world including Boston Marathons-the 2020 race. That year was to have been Team MR8's last fundraising run. The Richard family and foundation members wanted to end the team's formal participation with a memorably meaningful race. Then, COVID hit. The 2020 Boston Marathon became a "virtual" event requiring runners to complete their 26.2 miles away from the famous course and, in most cases, all alone. By necessity, participants lost the sense of community that draws so many to the sport. There was no "big finish" for Team MR8.
As years passed and the foundation's signature event, the MR8K grew, the five-mile run (now at Boston Landing in the shadow of principal sponsors New Balance and the Bruins practice facility) became its main fundraiser. This year, more than 1500 people are expected to run and walk the loop from Boston Landing through Brighton. Among the runners will be roughly 50 members of Team MR8 who signed up-within a day-when the Richards made the decision to launch one more Boston Marathon team.
Team MR8 is reuniting to race on the tenth anniversary of the bombings. Bill Richard explained, "We've been fortunate to create a kind of special team. And people like doing things together. This is one more opportunity for them to be together."
The team's draw extends to a dozen of Martin's friends including his three best friends: Nolan Cleary, Jack Burke and Ava O'Brien. They are all 18 now; old enough to run Boston. Nolan, who served on the MR8 Youth Board and has volunteered with the foundation for years, has been waiting for the opportunity to join the team. "I've been with the charity for a while doing as much as I can. And I always wished that there was more that I could do. The marathon was always the main thing."
Nolan remembers Martin as his first real friend. "I remember sleeping over at his house, getting to know his family." Vivid memories of the friend he lost almost a decade ago extend to Martin's athletic ability. "I remember he was on the opposing T-ball team sometimes. And he would always hit the ball so far. I'd be like...what?! Same thing with basketball."
When Nolan started playing basketball, Martin gave him a pair of shoes that the Purdue University freshman still treasures. Nolan and his father (who joined MR8 for the team's inaugural 2014 marathon) will run Boston together in 2023. "It's just kinda perfect," Nolan said, smiling.
For Bill, it is both emotional and exciting to see Martin's friends on Team MR8. "For these young people to agree to do it in Martin's name is just a treatment to who they are, how tight they were with Martin, and how they want to continue to remember him."
MR8's Team Captain for the upcoming marathon is Martin's older brother Henry. Henry, who is also an accomplished athlete, is eager to share what he learned running his first Boston Marathon with his new teammates. His finish in 2022 was, perhaps, the race's most memorable moment. The crowd on Boylston Street cheered as if he'd won. Indeed, it was a personal victory. A triumph under challenging conditions (Henry says he ran in pain for the final 6-7 miles) and a beautiful tribute to Martin. The embrace he shared with Bill and Denise and his sister Jane, who lost a leg in the bombing, brought viewers-even those watching from home-to tears. "That was awesome," Henry recalls, "You can't really beat that. Seeing them at the finish line, it was incredible. I'd been waiting for that for so long. It's something I'll never forget."
As we celebrate moments of joy and resilience, we are reminded of the healing that has taken place since the attacks in 2013. Nothing fills the void of loss or lessens the pain of that devastating day. But the Martin Richard Foundation proves, by example, that even after life's most devastating experiences, we can extend kindness to one another. "I think a lot about what Martin would want all of us to do right now," Rachel told WBZ's Lisa Hughes, "If he was here, he'd say 'Let's get the team back together and do this!' It feels really special to be a part of it. From the inaugural team to now? It's an amazing opportunity."
Bill agrees. He calls the community support for his family-and the response to the 2023 MR8 marathon team "incredible." Martin's memory is a guiding light.
"The goal is always... to find a way to keep his spirit, his name, his image with us. With people. We lost him in such a public way. We've been able to create a space-in Martin's Park-and with the foundation and with the other initiatives that we do to keep his name present and to do things in his name that were meaningful for him. Service and giving back and helping people. We just do our best to do the things that he would be doing as a young man and growing into as an adult."
WBZ is proud to partner with the Martin Richard Foundation on the 2022 MR8K.
To register for the MR8K or to donate, visit: teammr8.org/team-mr8/
