Every year, the Boston Marathon attracts thousands of runners willing and ready to run 26.2 miles. To facilitate the event are those on the sidelines, holding out cups of water and orange Gatorade, or those who help the exhausted−but−proud runners find their supporters at the end of the race. At this year's event, some 7,000 volunteers turned up to help the marathon run smoothly.
As a major participant in the Boston Marathon, Tufts not only sends the university's President's Marathon Challenge team every year, but also sends student volunteers to help as well.
Before the marathon, all the volunteers were extremely energized and ready to help out. Senior Kim Farnham said she was "beyond excited" to be volunteering. "I am probably going to lose my voice from cheering," she said.
"For Tufts University, we have four water stops," Don Megerle, director of the President's Marathon Challenge, said.
"[The volunteers are] in charge of giving people water or Gatorade," freshman volunteer Amy Bean said. That task was more complicated than it may seem, as the volunteers had to carefully follow instructions, holding cups by two fingers for the runners to easily grab as they continued on their way.
The water stations were located at every mile except for miles one and 26, and Tufts volunteers were in charge of miles 10, 11 and 22. They also were responsible for returning possessions to the runners and reuniting them with their friends and families. Once the volunteers left Tufts at 6 a.m., they worked all day at their assigned station, returning to campus in the late afternoon.
The job of those working at the water stations was not just handing out water, according to Megerle. "These tables are 30 to 40 [sections] long, and they have to fix the Gatorade, fill the cups … there's a whole host of things volunteers have to do," Megerle said.
According to freshmen Rachel Ganz and Julia Hajnoczky, who helped at the water station at mile 11 in Natick, the work was not easy.
"We had to stack cups in multiple layers — four layers, actually — each full of Gatorade or water," Hajnoczky said.
"There's a whole science to it, actually," Ganz added, describing the efficiency necessary for the water stations to help the runners.
Any Jumbo can volunteer to help with the President's Marathon Challenge. "I got the e−mail that President Bacow sent out calling all volunteers, and I decided to do it," sophomore Danielle Pike said. Others volunteer because of an interest in running, like Ganz, who is on the Tufts track and field team, and Hajnoczky, who is on the cross−country team.
"[I'd] never seen or experienced a marathon before, and I run, so I thought it'd be cool to volunteer," Ganz said. "A lot of teammates [who volunteered in the past] said it was really cool, too," she added.
Bean also cited an interest in running as a reason for volunteering. "I had this goal in middle school of running the Boston Marathon, and my friend and I said we would run it when we got to college," Bean said. Though that goal remains unrealized, Bean still wanted to participate in the excitement and energy of the marathon.
Hundreds of Tufts students volunteered this year, and the team even had to turn down many people. "The kind of interest to be a volunteer — it's amazing," Megerle said. Tufts was accommodating for the volunteers, providing transportation and freebies for them. "We bus the kids into Boston, and we really extend ourselves to make it easy for kids to volunteer," he said. "The whole organization is unlike any other."
The unspoken job for the volunteers, though, is to cheer on and support their fellow Jumbos. When she volunteered the first time her freshman year, Farnham recalled how important support from the sidelines was. "The cheering from the crowd seemed to inspire the runners to keep going," Farnhan said.
"[The marathon runners] go out of their way and say thanks … I didn't feel like we did anything. I mean, they were the ones running a marathon," Ganz added.
It was even more exciting when a member of the President's Marathon Challenge team ran by, according to Hajnoczky. "We cheered when we saw Tufts runners too, and they were so excited when they saw us," she said.
"It's so nice to see Tufts paraphernalia and seeing them unexpectedly at every water stop," Megerle said.
After the marathon was over, the volunteers at the water stations had to clean up the mountains of cups and trash heaped around the tables, while the volunteers in charge of clothing return and reuniting runners with their families began their work.
At the end of the day, though, the experience of seeing some of the world's best runners racing through the familiar neighborhoods of Boston was overwhelming. "Everyone was so happy when they were done," Hajnoczky said.
So powerful was the effect of the marathon on the volunteers that many are considering running the marathon themselves in upcoming years.
Ganz and Hajnoczky both said that they intend to run the marathon in the future and that they felt particularly inspired by the runners who were blind, deaf or in wheelchairs.
Megerle said this was a common trend: "What you find is that the next [thing volunteers] want to do is to run in the marathon," he said. "Sometimes they run alongside their friends for a couple miles, or simply volunteer, and then they feel inspired to train for next year's marathon."
Megerle continued that it was a win−win situation, as the runners and the volunteers benefitted from each other, grateful that the other helped them in some way. "The whole experience is invaluable," Megerle said. "For us, they're awesome."
