Boston (AP) – the Boston Marathon and Mayor Michel Wu insisted on Friday that international runners and other foreign visitors remain welcome in the city and said there was no evidence that the trip to this year’s competition fell to increased border control.
“Regardless of what is happening at other levels, and especially now at the federal level, we welcome everyone to Boston,” UW said at a public safety briefing, not far from the final. “We strive to be home for everyone.”
Advertisement
A covenant event for both runners and spectators set at the Patriots Day in memory of Lexington and Concord battles, which caused the American Revolution 250 years ago, the Boston Marathon is the oldest and most prestigious annual long-distance race.
It gained even more important-and the popularity of 2013, when two pressure bombs exploded near the final, killing three people and injured hundreds more. (Alan Davis, an assistant, a special agent in charge of Boston’s office in Boston, said the briefing that there were no “credible or specific threats” in the race on Monday.)
This year, the marathon has more than 30,000 participants from 128 countries. The President of the Boston Athletic Association, Jack Fleming, said the 129th edition of the competition is complete – thousands more rejected – and there are no indications that the registered ones have stayed at home.
“We have a lot of demand this year, as we do every year,” he said.
Advertisement
But since US officials track down tourism, with many possible visitors angry with the tariffs and rhetoric of President Donald Trumps and the rhetoric and anxious about the arrest of tourists on the border, at least some potential participants in Marathon have decided to miss the race.
The Canadians were particularly postponed by Trump’s conversations about turning the country into the 51st US State. Paula Roberts-Banks, a writer and photographer from Rosso, Ontario, who has ruled Boston 12 times, writes in Canadian Running magazine that she has won a coveted mucosa for this year’s race, but decided not to run because she is “enhanced” in the US
“I just don’t want to go there,” she said. “Feels like a breakup.”
The British runner Kali Hauger-Takery, an 2024 Olympian, who has entered the professional field of women, said she has never experienced a problem coming to the United States, but is worried now that this may change.
Advertisement
“At the moment she scares me, I’m traveling a little,” she said, adding that she is married to an American and has a visa. “I hope it is enough for them not to mark me or something that enters and leaves the United States.”
Most of the 31,941 participants in the competition on Monday were obliged to qualify for another marathon, and many of them view Boston’s running as an athletic goal throughout life. Still, about 10% of the field does not usually go from the starting line in Kopinton for reasons that range from injuries to time to the eruption of a volcano in 2010 in Iceland, which stopped flights and prevented hundreds of Europeans from traveling to Boston.
Last year’s field of 29 333 participants had 2838 who failed to start. Race employees say they will not know how much they do not present themselves this year until Monday; Even then, they won’t know why.
“We have no data on why people may or cannot come to Boston,” Fleming said. “In BAA, our goal is to create a marathon experience that is very welcoming and joyful. Every year we focus on this purpose and we are confident that we have done everything in our power to achieve this this year.”
Advertisement
Wu said he hopes visitors to look along the geopolitical climate and “participate in this very, very important global tradition that must go beyond politics and exceed the problems of the day.”
And that’s exactly what the Australian Patrick Tienan plans to do.
“At the moment, some unfortunate situations are happening in the United States, but I do not think that this has to complain about what is happening here and the history of this race,” said the two -time Olympian, who was the NCAA CROSA Champion in Vilanova. “I think everyone is very excited to be here and are excited to compete on Monday.”
___
AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports