Canton runners gearing up for Marathon Monday

Canton marathoner Paul Fitzgerald with the Kids for Peace team at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School

This story originally appeared in the March 28 edition of the Canton Citizen. Follow today’s marathon at baa.org.

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The 123rd Boston Marathon is just around the corner, and eager runners have begun to taper their training while at the same time ramping up their fundraising efforts in anticipation of Patriots Day, April 15.

Of the roughly 30,000 participants, 17 are registered from Canton, and they range from charity runners and first-time participants to seasoned road race veterans.

Last year’s top Canton finisher, 2009 CHS graduate Sean McNeil, has moved to another community but is back in Wave 1/Corral 1 as he looks to improve on his stellar 2018 time of 2:40:30, which was good for 145th place overall. McNeil, who has 10 siblings, many of whom are accomplished athletes, has already banked wins at the Newport Half Marathon and Newport Marathon and will be running Boston for the third consecutive year.

Also back in the field for the 2019 edition is Canton road racing legend Louis Raffetto, who has finished as high as 50th (2009) and is coming off another strong showing last year in which he placed 476th overall with a time of 2:48:28. A fixture on the local road racing circuit and past winner of every major town running event, Raffetto has run in every Boston Marathon since 2008 with this year’s race making it 12 in a row.

On the women’s side, Canton’s top qualifiers include a pair of Wave 2 runners in Lauren Tarvin and Meghan Rhodes, who are both running for the third consecutive year. Both improved considerably in their second go-round last year, finishing with times of 3:26 and 3:40:51, respectively.

Sean McNeil

Meanwhile, on the charity circuit, there are several local residents who will be back at the starting line in Hopkinton this year, including Paul Fitzgerald, who will be running his fifth consecutive Boston Marathon as part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team. Every dollar raised by the DFCI team will support the Claudia Adams Barr Program, which is helping to fuel some of today’s most promising basic cancer research. A newcomer to Canton but native of the area, Fitzgerald recently spoke with a group of JFK Elementary School students called Kids for Peace who are raising money for Dana-Farber on their own. He is partnered with DFCI patient Max Mendez and is running in memory of loved ones lost as he aims to fight cancer “26.2 miles at a time.” His fundraising page can be found at danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/run4max2019.

Also returning for another Boston Marathon is Canton native Stephen Teague, who has raised tens of thousands over the past three years for the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Teague himself suffered severe limb damage after an accident in 1993. He was treated at Brigham and Women’s and is now running to help give back to the nurses, doctors, and entire medical staff at BWH.

Fellow Cantonite and avid distance runner Nancy Peplau will also be running this year in support of the BWH Stepping Strong Team. Peplau, who ran her first Boston Marathon as a Canton High School senior and went on to complete seven more marathons over the next decade, is back for “one more” in honor of all victims of trauma, including the victims of the 2013 marathon bombings as well as her teenage son, who suffered a traumatic brain injury on Marathon Monday in 2017. Both Peplau’s and Teague’s race pages can be found under the “team” link at crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/steppingstrongboston2019.

Journey Forward team member and client Thomas Smith

Another Canton-based team that will be looking to make a difference on behalf of those who have suffered devastating injuries is Journey Forward, a nonprofit rehab facility located on Shawmut Road. This year’s Journey Forward marathon team consists of seven dedicated runners, led by Thomas Smith, a former standout Boston area hockey player who has overcome paralysis three times in a two-year span and is now back to walk the Boston Marathon route on Lofstrand crutches. The victim of two freak accidents and a devastating motor vehicle crash, Smith has undergone extensive physical therapy at Journey Forward and has been out of a wheelchair since 2012. “There is no better program or facility in New England that is giving the paralysis community a better chance to walk again than Journey Forward,” he said.

Other notable Journey Forward team members include former Boston Police Commissioner Billy Evans, a veteran marathoner who, as then BPD superintendent, played an instrumental role in the manhunt and capture of marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Journey Forward client Garrett FitzGerald, a U.S. Secret Service agent who was paralyzed three years ago in a head-on collision after leaving a protective detail for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. FitzGerald, who recently stood up for the first time since the accident, will be pushed along the marathon route by his colleague Donald McGrail.

To donate to the Journey Forward team or to any individual member, go to crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/journey-forward-boston-2019.

Also set to run this year for a charitable cause is 21-year-old Canton resident John McDonough, who is running in his first Boston Marathon with the Boston Bulldogs club to support people in recovery from addiction, as well as their families, friends and caregivers. McDonough’s page can be found at grouprev.com/bostonbulldogsmarathonteam-john.

Other Canton runners with online fundraising pages include Colin McKelligan, a state trooper running on behalf of Cops for Kids with Cancer (copsforkidswithcancer.org/team/colinmckelligan); Denise Thomas, who is running with fellow Reebok CrossFit ONE coaches on behalf of Build Our Kids Success (classy.org/fundraiser/1829769); Oscar Santos, Cathedral High School’s head of school who is running to raise money for “life-changing” student scholarships (cathedralhighschool.net/marathon); Shy Joseph, a first-time participant running with Team BMC in support of Boston Medical Center (crowdrise.com/shyamaleejoseph); and Caitlyn Weller and Theresa Regan, who are both running on behalf of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County to support victims of child abuse (crowdrise/com/o/en/campaign/2019-cac-boston-marathon-team1).

Also listed as official 2019 Boston Marathon entrants on the Boston Athletic Association website are Canton residents Patrick Barrera, William Hertello, Richard Sementelli, and Stephen Wood.

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