British runners have described how they avoided being caught up in the two explosions at the Boston Marathon by a matter of minutes. Three hundred and forty-seven of the 25,000 taking part in the race were British and several described the aftermath.
Abi Griffiths, from London, crossed the finishing line about 10 minutes before the blasts. The 34-year-old told Sky News she heard the explosion while collecting her bag.
"The ground shook and immediately people sort of looked around – it was just too loud to be something that wasn't serious," she said.
"People kind of didn't know what to do. Then all of a sudden it went into a state of chaos.
"Police were everywhere, we were being evacuated out of the area and it was really eerie.
"It was very, very scary and what should be a major celebration of the achievement of running 26.2 miles suddenly became a frightening scene."
She said police had moved into action quickly.
"This is just such an awful scene to have happened," Griffiths continued. "It felt like it may have come from the inside of a shop.
"Suddenly you looked around and there was this cloud of smoke and then people went into gear. There were police everywhere."
Darren Foy, 40, from Southampton, his wife Sandra and their two children, missed the explosions by 30 minutes after he finished the marathon in three-and-a-half hours. The chartered surveyor, who is chairman of the Lordshill Road Runners in Southampton and was competing in his fourth marathon, said: "There are reports here that the explosions came from a hotel at the finish line and I walked past there a few days ago to pick up my race number.
"It's such a soft target. There are hundreds of thousands spectators on the streets and [25,000] runners, so we got off lightly."
Mark Jenkin, a 34-year-old sports writer from Barnstaple in Devon, said the explosion had put the race into perspective.
After finishing 138th in a time of two hours and 24 minutes, he told his paper, the North Devon Journal: "It's a beautiful spring afternoon in Boston. The people of the city put on a great race and it's such a tragedy this has happened.
"I was feeling tired and a bit disappointed with my time in the race but all that seems irrelevant now. I just feel grateful to be OK."
Abi Griffiths, from London, crossed the finishing line about 10 minutes before the blasts. The 34-year-old told Sky News she heard the explosion while collecting her bag.
"The ground shook and immediately people sort of looked around – it was just too loud to be something that wasn't serious," she said.
"People kind of didn't know what to do. Then all of a sudden it went into a state of chaos.
"Police were everywhere, we were being evacuated out of the area and it was really eerie.
"It was very, very scary and what should be a major celebration of the achievement of running 26.2 miles suddenly became a frightening scene."
She said police had moved into action quickly.
"This is just such an awful scene to have happened," Griffiths continued. "It felt like it may have come from the inside of a shop.
"Suddenly you looked around and there was this cloud of smoke and then people went into gear. There were police everywhere."
Darren Foy, 40, from Southampton, his wife Sandra and their two children, missed the explosions by 30 minutes after he finished the marathon in three-and-a-half hours. The chartered surveyor, who is chairman of the Lordshill Road Runners in Southampton and was competing in his fourth marathon, said: "There are reports here that the explosions came from a hotel at the finish line and I walked past there a few days ago to pick up my race number.
"It's such a soft target. There are hundreds of thousands spectators on the streets and [25,000] runners, so we got off lightly."
Mark Jenkin, a 34-year-old sports writer from Barnstaple in Devon, said the explosion had put the race into perspective.
After finishing 138th in a time of two hours and 24 minutes, he told his paper, the North Devon Journal: "It's a beautiful spring afternoon in Boston. The people of the city put on a great race and it's such a tragedy this has happened.
"I was feeling tired and a bit disappointed with my time in the race but all that seems irrelevant now. I just feel grateful to be OK."
Source: Guardian
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