Rebecca Beaulne, a Bostom Marathon veteran, will be joined this year in the annual grueling race by her husband Tod. The Fort MacMurray residents have both qualified for the Boston Marathon, and this will be the 9th time that Rebecca has participated in the annual event and it will be the first for her husband. Rebecca Beaulne finished the marathon in 2013 just moments before two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line, and this explosion cost 3 people their lives and injured another 264. The event also took the city of Boston hostage as police searched for the two brothers responsible, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Rebecca Beaulne said “There was a huge show of support last year from the whole community of runners rather than it being a competition between countries, like everyone was making a statement.”

Both Tod and Rebecca Beaulne qualified for the Boston Marathon after they completed the St. George Marathon in Utah earlier this year. Tod just recently took up the sport of marathon running, and he finished the St. George Marathon with a time of 3 hours 1 minute, with Rebecca coming in at 3 hours 2 minutes. Tod said “She motivated me in 2010 when I ran my first marathon. It took me two tries to finally qualify for Boston and I’m not ashamed of that. I’m excited to take part.” Rebecca Beaulne discussed the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and stated “I feel really sad for the families that had family members die. I also feel really bad for the people who were injured, especially the ones who are amputees now. It was so senseless and a waste, just so terrible.” Tod explained “The fact that they got the two radicals involved means I’m not worried at all about going. I feel like their security is top notch now. I have no hesitation about going.”