The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunermedia.net

SIDNEY Collie and Shavaughn Blades were glad the seven members of the Road Masters Running Club were not in “harm’s way” when they competed in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

While Collie completed the race before the explosions, Blades and Youlanda Deveaux were among the contingent stuck in a holding zone as the investigations got underway. Linda Williams, Michelle Gibson, James Bodie and Carl Blades were all on the sidelines supporting the trio.

All seven Bahamians returned home on Tuesday on board a direct Jet Blue flight from Boston, thanks in part to an agent known only as Shonell, who assisted in making sure that they were all on the same flight home.

“The race was really a trying course. It was a hilly course, but I didn’t run my best time because of the weather,” said Collie, who came through the finish line in three hours. “It was also very hilly, but I qualified for next year.”

Right after completing the race, Collie said he went directly to his hotel room to get a massage and he didn’t know what had happened. As fate had it, Collie said he would have been milling around the area had he not sought medical treatment and probably would have been caught up in the explosion.

“When I went to get the massage at the hotel, which was close by, they found another explosive that didn’t go off,” Collie said. “When I heard what happened, I started to think about Carl (Blades), Michelle (Gibson) and Linda (Williams), who were on the sideline cheering us on.

“I never experienced anything like that. We just tried to stay calm. It was tough to watch all of the chaos that was going on. I only wanted to find the rest of the team because they didn’t allow anybody to go near the sight where the explosions went off.”

Bodie, who opted not to compete this year, said he probably would have been caught up in the explosions if he was entered in the race because it occurred around the time that he normally completes a marathon.

“About half-a-mile towards the finish line, we noticed that everybody had stopped and we couldn’t go any further. So we thought something happened - someone died or something,” he said.

“People were saying that there was a bomb scare, others were saying it was a bomb explosion. So we eventually found the other members of the team and we realised that everybody was safe.

Everywhere was blocked off.”

Shavuaghn Blades said she was shocked when she heard the news. “Why would they want to do something like this at a sporting event that was a good thing for runners and charities?” she asked. “You never would think something like this would happen, so it was just disbelief.

“I was concerned because I didn’t have any way of communicating with Carl because I didn’t take my cell phone. I knew he and the others would be at the finish line waiting for me, but I didn’t know how close they would be, so my first instinct was to just stay put because I knew Carl would eventually find us. That’s his personality and sure enough he was there with the others.”

Blades’ husband Carl was on the sidelines waiting for the Bahamian trio to cross the finish line.

“Four hours in, we heard one explosion. At first, I didn’t think it was an explosion. I thought it was some fireworks or something. Within seconds another one went off and it was a lot louder because I later learned it was closer to us. When I looked down the road, I could see the smoke. At that point, I knew it was an explosion. So we just pushed our way through trying to find the rest of the Bahamians. People were calm. I thought they would have been more unruly, but they were walking away.”

As the ambulance and security officials started to make their way through, Carl Blades said he, Gibson and Williams decided to look for his wife, Shavaughn, and Youlanda because they had not passed them yet.

“We found them in an area where they were holding all of the runners, who had not completed the course,” he said. “Once we did that, we started to walk to our hotel and we got in contact with Sidney, who was quite fine.”

When the team arrived at the airport, Yvonne Gibson, aunt of Collie, said she was disappointed that there wasn’t any government officials on hand to welcome them home.

“At least some of them should have been here at the airport,” Gibson said. “That’s why I had to be here. I was praying for all of them. When they said Sidney Collie was passed the finish line, I could only throw my hands up in the air and say thank you Jesus.”

In the aftermath of Boston, two members of the Road Masters will be travelling to London this weekend to compete in another marathon. They are Glen Bain and Barbara Symonette.

The rest of the runners are not expected to compete in another marathon until October, but nobody was prepared to let this ordeal ruin their chance to do what they have all enjoyed doing - running in a marathon.

And despite what occurred on Monday, they all say they are looking forward to returning to Boston next year, if the event is continued. They just advised Bahamians whenever they travel to participate in any event, just remember to stay with the group because you never know what could happen.