The Tribune

By CARA BETHEL

cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

A GROUP of Bahamian runners and their cheering team watched in horror as chaos erupted at the height of the Boston marathon yesterday.

Carl Blades, whose wife Shavaughn was one of the Bahamians competing, said he was standing near the finish line when he heard two explosions go off within seconds of each other.

“We were pretty close to the finish line when they just went off, one right after the other, we were so close that we actually saw the flash of light and smelt the smoke.

“When the first one went off, I thought that it might have been a firecracker, but by the second one, I realised that it had to be bombs. Once people realised what had happened, it was pretty much chaos and panic - people were crying and trying to get to safety.

“There were seven of us from the Roadmaster group. I was with Michelle Gibson and Linda Williams waiting for Shavaugn and Youlanda to come through and so our first thought was to try to locate them.

“James Bodie was running along the route with them giving them encouragement.”

“When the explosion happened it was during hour four of the marathon which is the time when the elite runners would have all been finished, but in hour four the majority of runners are just coming through the finish line, so there was a lot of activity right then.”

He said that they were eventually able to locate Shavaughn and Youlanda and later Sidney Collie.

“He had finished the race and was in the massage area when the explosion went off. But thankfully we are all okay and none of us is hurt.”

The Tribune also spoke to Carl’s wife Shavaughn who was minutes away from competing.

“Youlanda and I were about halfway through mile 26, so we were too far away to hear the explosion, but as we kept getting closer, we saw people on the ground and just crowds of people in the streets so we knew something serious had happened and then they told us that they had stopped the race because there had been a series of bombs. People were crying, people were in shock. The temperature in Boston is about 40 degrees and some of the runners started getting sick, vomiting, some of them started getting hyperthermia, but the residents of Boston were so nice, many of them who lived in the area went in their homes and provided blankets for the runners.

“Youlanda was staying at a hotel near the finish line and the John F Kennedy library, the site where several explosions were located, and she has not able to get back into her hotel, because police had shut down that entire area and were sweeping it for explosives, so hopefully she will be able to get back there soon,” she added.

“I have participated in several marathons in the United States and they have always been extremely well organised security wise, the whole route is usual guarded ahead of the race and well patrolled. The general consensus of the people here is that this is some type of terrorism. We are scheduled to come back home tomorrow, (9 o’clock this  morning) so we just hope that nothing else happens and they reopen the airport and we can all get home safely. But we are just grateful we are okay.”

The pair said that there might have been a fourth Bahamian in the race, but they had not travelled together and they had not been able to confirm whether she had indeed gone to Boston to compete.

The Tribune also spoke with Brenda Claridge, the sister of runner Rhonda Claridge.

She said she first found out about the explosion – and the fact that her sister was taking part in the race – from The Tribune.

Brenda said some of her other relatives had since informed her that her sister was okay and had been in contact with them.

Brenda expressed frustration and anger at the bombers who had targeted the race.

This is terrible, she said. “You can’t do anything anymore.”

Her sister Rhonda teaches at a university in Montrose, Colorado, and is expected to return there today.