Boston Marathon runner who helped competitor cross finish line says it was instinct

BOSTON — One of two men who helped carry a fellow runner across the finish line of the Boston Marathon said he had been struggling earlier himself but drew strength from the supportive crowd.

“If I had to go farther, I would have,” Aaron Beggs said in an interview Thursday. “It’s fight or flight, and I decided to fight and help him get to our destination.”

Beggs, of Northern Ireland, and Robson De Olivera, of Brazil, sprang into action Monday when Ajay Haridasse collapsed about 1,000 feet from the end of the course. Beggs also had been feeling sick and exhausted, but was reminding himself of all the people in his running club who might never get to experience such an iconic race.

“Then when I came down and up towards Boylston Street, the crowd started cheering and I just turned the corner and happened to see Ajay fall,” he said. “I looked at my watch, and I looked at him again, and the natural instinct was just to go and pick him up.”

For Beggs, the moment capped what already had been an incredible experience, from being cheered on by local college students to chatting with a fellow runner wearing his father’s name on his shirt just to hear onlookers call it out.

“We were shaking hands as we were running, and was like, ‘We’ve got this. Let’s do this together,’” he said. “It’s not like in shorter races where you’re head-to-head trying to beat people. In the marathon, you’re cheering each other on and encouraging everybody.”

Pete Grasso, who was watching the race, caught the moment on video when the pair picked up Haridasse. It’s gone viral.

“The coolest part about this moment was that these two guys were less than a tenth of a mile away, in the middle of a really, really fast race, and still stopped to help a fellow runner who needed some help. That’s not easy to do,” Grasso said in an email. “Seeing them put everything aside in that moment just to get another runner across the line was incredible. And hearing the crowd respond, cheering for them, supporting them, truly gave me chills.”

Beggs said he has been in touch with Haridasse, a Massachusetts native and student at Northeastern University, and hopes to reconnect with Robson as well. Their finishing time was good enough to qualify for next year’s race.

“Three strangers, three different countries, and we’ll have a story for the rest of our lives,” he said. “We all need just a nice story in our lives, just to make us smile, bring a tear to your eye with happiness. And it’s nice to be nice.”