BOSTON (AP) – The Boston marathon and Mayor Michelle Wu insisted on Friday that international runners and other foreign visitors remain welcome in the city and said that there was no evidence that this year's race fell in the face of an increased examination of borders.
“Regardless of what is happening at other levels, and in particular now at the federal level, in Boston, we welcome everyone,” Wu said during a public security mediation briefing not far from the finish line. “We are looking to be a home for everyone.”
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A valuable event for runners and spectators, organized during the Patriots' Day celebration commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord which sparked the American revolution 250 years ago, the Boston marathon is the oldest and most prestigious long distance race in the world.
He took even greater meaning – and popularity – Since 2013, when two bunters to be cooked at pressure have exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others. (Allen Davis, the special assistant agent in charge of the Boston office of the FBI, said in the briefing that there was “no credible or specific threat” to the race on Monday.)
This year's marathon has more than 30,000 participants from 128 countries. The president of the Boston Athletic Association, Jack Fleming, said that the 129th edition of the race was full – thousands of others are refused – and nothing indicates that the registered people remain at home.
“We have a lot of request this year, as we do every year,” he said.
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But while US officials follow tourist figures falling, many potential visitors angry with President Donald Puttings And rhetoric and alarmed by stories about tourists borderThe reports indicate that at least certain participants in the potential marathon decided to jump the race.
Canadians were particularly put off by Trump's conversation to do the country the 51st American state. Paula Roberts-Banks, writer and photographer from Rosseau, Ontario, who managed Boston 12 times, written in the Canadian race magazine that she won a coveted bib for this year's race but decided not to run because she “bitter” in the United States
“I just don't want to go,” she said. “It looks like a break.”
British runner Calli Hauger-Thakery, an Olympian from 2024 who entered the professional field of women, said that she had never encountered a problem in the United States, but she is now worried that it could change.
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“It scares me to travel a little, for the moment,” she said, adding that she was married to an American and a visa. “I hope it is enough not to point out or anything that happens and leaves states.”
Most of the 31,941 Monday race participants were required to qualify in another marathon, and many of them consider the race in Boston as a sports objective for life. However, around 10% of the field is generally not the starting line in Hopkinton for reasons that go from bad weather injuries to the 2010 eruption of a volcano in Iceland which interrupted thefts and prevented hundreds of Europeans from going to Boston.
In the field of 29,333 participants of last year, 2,838 who did not start. Race managers say they will not know how many non-presentations this year before Monday; Even then, they will not know why.
“We have no data on the reasons why people may or may not come to Boston,” said Fleming. “At the BAA, our goal is to create a marathon experience which is very welcoming and joyful. Each year, we focus on this objective and we are convinced that we have done everything in our power to achieve this year.”
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Wu said that she hoped that visitors would look beyond the geopolitical climate and “would participate in this very, very important world tradition which should transcend politics and transcend the problems of the day”.
And that's exactly what Australian Patrick Tiernan plans to do.
“There are unhappy situations underway in the United States at the moment, but I don't think it should have to hinder what is going on here, and the story of this race,” said the Olympian double, which was NCAA cross-country champion in Villanova. “I think everyone is very excited to be here and excited to compete on Monday.”
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