WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT THE BOSTON MARATHON? HOPKINTON RESIDENTS, OTHERS WEIGH IN

THE GARDNER NEWS

Detours and road closures have returned. Even a few porta potties. 

Runners, however, have been replaced by bulldozers and backhoes. Hard hats are mandatory where once a bib was required for entry. 

The Boston Marathon is on hiatus for a second consecutive Patriots Day, but downtown Hopkinton is still abuzz with activity. 

The Main Street Corridor Project began last month to begin the realignment of the intersection of routes 85 and 135. The hope is that construction ends in time for the rescheduled Marathon on Oct. 11. 

There will be no race again on Monday (although Mother Nature will be providing ideal running conditions: highs in the low 60s, tailwind), leaving a void that can only be filled with memories. 

The race will turn 125 in the fall, and in two years, will celebrate its 100th start in Hopkinton (the event began in Ashland from 1897-1923). 

What do you miss about the world’s oldest marathon? That question was posed to runners and non-runners, as well as Hopkinton residents and the race’s luminaries. 

Bruce MacDonald: Lives two blocks from downtown 

The MacDonald family was set to host 100 runners — 65 from Team Inspire and another 35 from the Michael J. Fox Foundation — for the 2020 race. Sleeping quarters included tents in their backyard.

Bruce MacDonald has a strong connection to the two entities.  

Team Inspire is the 26.2 Foundation’s runner charity; the Michael J. Fox Foundation raises money for Parkinson’s disease research. MacDonald is on the board of directors for the 26.2 Foundation and he has Parkinson’s. 

He also has strong ties to the Marathon because of the proximity of his home to the starting line. 

“It’s like the seminal event of the town just disappeared,” he said. “Hopkinton’s identity is so wrapped around the start of the Marathon — to pull it away means to take a pillar away from the town itself.” 

Russ Hoyt: Father Dick pushed brother Rick through 32 Bostons 

The world lost one-half of the renowned father-son distance duo that was a special part of the Boston experience for more than three decades when Dick Hoyt died on St. Patrick’s Day. Dick pushed son Rick through more than 1,000 distance races and helped launch Team Hoyt, with its “Yes You Can!” motto that allowed the disabled to become athletes. 

Russ Hoyt, another of Dick’s sons and Rick’s younger brother, remembers rising early on Marathon Mondays in order to drive the adaptive van that carried Rick to the starting line in Hopkinton. Russ said not having the race in 2020 was “like mourning a loss of something because it was such a part of your life for so long.” 

A new family chapter will begin in the fall when Russ' son Troy, a former Fitchburg State runner, runs his first marathon at Boston. 

In light of their father’s passing, Russ said Rick is doing well, keeping himself busy by being creative. 

“He’s been doing a lot of writing, which is helping him process (Dick’s death),” Russ said. “He’s gotten a lot of letters from schools, and he’s been responding to those. He wrote a nice letter to the governor. He wrote a beautiful eulogy for our dad.” 

That tribute was read at a private service for Dick Hoyt in North Reading on Saturday. 

Rick and Troy Hoyt will be active on Monday as part of the Boston Athletic Association’s inaugural Patriots Day Mile when Troy pushes his uncle for a mile in Rochdale, a Southern Worcester County village in Leicester. 

“Rick can’t do marathon distances anymore just because of his own health concerns, but he can do shorter races,” Russ Hoyt said. “So on Monday, when everyone’s doing these virtual miles everywhere, we decided that that would be the best way to honor the day: for the two of them to actually run together. It’s going to be pretty special.” 

John Tomasz: Owner, TJ's Food and Spirits

The race starts in Hopkinton, but the party along the course begins near mile 3 in Ashland: the music of AC/DC, burgers and bikers make up the crowd as WZLX broadcasts its morning show on-location. Runners get a charge while passing TJ's not only because it's still early in the race and the course is downhill at that point, but the front parking lot is packed and loud.

“It’ our biggest day of the year,” said owner John Tomasz. “It's our biggest week of the year. That day is over the top.”

The restaurant usually opens at 11 a.m., but on Patriots Day there’s a 6:30 a.m. opening for a breakfast buffet. The place closes at 2 p.m. for cleaning, then reopens at 4 to catch the crowd coming back from Boston as they return to their cars in Hopkinton. 

Tomasz said last year was “devastating” to his business, but he is looking forward to Boston’s return.

“Nothing compares to it.”

Brendan Tedstone: Select Board chairman, born in Hopkinton 

The former hockey player lives on Pleasant Street, about 200 feet from Main Street. But as a kid living on Chamberlain Street (1.5 miles from downtown), Tedstone said his Marathon-morning routine consisted of showing up early at Brown & Smith’s coffee shop (currently Bill’s Pizza) at 14 Main St., which was 400 feet from the starting line. 

His main goal wasn’t a cup of Joe, however. 

“To try and get on TV,” he said. “That was a big deal.” 

As race time approached, Tedstone and his friends found their strategic spots to watch the runners take off. At the time, the race started at noon and did not have separate wave or women’s elite start times. 

While racers streamed by, Tedstone and his buddies collected warmup gear that runners discarded. 

“We would all go back to the Common at quarter after 12 when the town would go back to being a ghost town,” he said, “and we would trade the warmup gear like we would trade Halloween candy or baseball cards. It was pretty fun.” 

Tedstone fondly recalled Brown & Smith’s, which closed more than 30 years ago, as a place to get “coffee and town gossip. If you got in there early enough, you could catch the construction guys and the DPW workers trying to solve the world’s problems.” 

Peter LaGoy: Exclusive club member, Hayden Rowe resident 

Residing a block south of the Town Common on Hayden Rowe Street, the sights and sounds of the Marathon come directly to Peter LaGoy’s house. 

On the weekends leading up to the race, LaGoy can hear runners conversing after they park their cars at St. John Parish, which is across the street from his home. 

"You’re lying in bed at 6:20 (in the morning),” he said, “and you’re going, ‘How come I’m hearing people talking?’ Then you realize it’s people talking to their friends, getting ready to run 20 miles into Boston as a training run. 

“It’s such a part of the fabric of moving from winter into spring. I really miss that.” 

LaGoy, who has served on Hopkinton’s Downtown Revitalization Committee and the town’s Trails Club, is one of a handful of runners worldwide to have run a sub-3 hour marathon in six different decades. He began with a 2-hour, 50-minute Marine Corps Marathon in 1979. 

He has run Boston three times, but says the buildup to the event gets him charged up whether he is running the race or not. 

“You feed off their excitement,” LaGoy said of the weekend runners are in town. “It makes you want to go out and clean up your front yard and make sure the flowers are there. And your neighbors are doing the same thing.” 

Tim Kilduff: Former race director, 26.2 Foundation president 

The Hopkinton resident has reported for WBZ from the men’s lead truck since 1987 and plans on doing so again in October. He said the cancellation of last year’s race was a major disruption in the calendar — and the change of seasons. 

“It’s such an integral part of spring in Massachusetts,” Kilduff said. “It’s like the door didn’t open to introduce us to spring. That’s part of the mystique about Boston. The door just didn’t open.” 

On Monday, he hopes people take time to look back — and forward. 

“For a few minutes, just pause for a little bit and reflect on the reach of this race,” Kilduff said. “The historical part. And then switch into a sense of anticipation for October. That’s what I plan on doing.” 

Brian Herr: 30-time finisher, lives a quarter-mile from the start 

The Select Board member, who has lived in Hopkinton for 21 years and has completed 30 Bostons, purchased a house a quarter-mile from starting line in the fall of 2019. 

“We were all excited about having everybody around and all the buzz that comes with the Marathon,” he said. 

But the race has yet to be held since he moved, though he always looks forward to April and all the preparation that come with the event. 

“You know it’s coming … a week or two before, the DPW comes through the center of town and they do a fabulous job scouring the downtown,” Herr said. “The Common gets all cleaned up and the roads get repainted and relined. They buff the whole place up.” 

Dave McGillivray: Race director, author 

There will be no race Monday, but the day will be a full one for the man who annually runs Boston after the event ends. 

Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray will rise at 4 a.m. on Monday to run near his North Andover home and won’t stop until he reaches 26.2 miles. Next, he plans to head west and attend Troy and Rick Hoyt’s mile run in Rochdale. In the evening, his third children’s book — “Finish Strong” — will be launched, appropriately on Patriots' Day. 

McGillivray misses the human connection that comes with Marathon weekend. 

“I truly enjoy working with the different organizations that deserve a lot of the credit behind the scenes that make this event happen,” he said. “Everything from the folks at the Hopkinton Marathon Committee to all the public agencies. They’ve all become great partners and friends. I’m anxious to get back to what we’re all passionate about. 

“It’s that engagement with others that makes this rewarding and enjoyable.” 

Jen Feaster, Team Framingham Steering Committee chairman 

Runners from Team Framingham have raised more than $565,000 through the Marathon for Framingham-focused charities since the team's inception in 2014. The team is celebrating Patriots' Day with a virtual fun run this year and is asking participants to tag running selfies on social media with #CheersTeamFramingham. 

“We can't wait until October when we can join our neighbors in cheering for our runners in the next in-person race!” Feaster wrote in an email. 

Tim Dumas can be reached at tdumas@gannett.com.