Boston: Sean Haggerty was the last official finisher at the 2013 Boston Marathon. It wasn’t because he was the slowest.
The New Hampshire state police sergeant stopped before the finish line to help spectators who were wounded in the bombing. When he finally crossed, at 2.57pm on Monday, he was pushing an injured woman to the medical tent in a wheelchair. He did not know he was the last one to record a time until he was told by a reporter three days later.
“I consider myself not completing the race. I didn’t run to the finish line. I ran to offer assistance to those that needed it,” said Haggerty, who reluctantly agreed to be interviewed this week.
“When I did have an opportunity, later on, to use someone’s cellphone to call my wife and let her know that I was OK, she said she figured that I was because she got the [automated] text message that I had finished. I corrected her and said, ‘I didn’t finish, I didn’t make it to the finish line.’”
He did, but only after he had helped several of the wounded. Haggerty seemed reluctant to talk to a reporter, and said several times during the interview, “I did what hundreds of other people did that day.
“I just happened to be in a position to help,” he said. “I saw the initial blast and immediately thought of the evil in the world, but the response showed me that there is a bright spot to it and that is the actions of all the people that I was able to work beside.”
He borrowed someone’s belt and tied it around a woman’s leg to help stop the bleeding. He said he has a way to get in touch with the injured woman, when the time is right.
“The focus should be on those people whose lives will be changed forever,” he said. “I’ll always remember and think about the people that lost their lives. I’ll always remember and think about the people that go on with their lives; it will be a bigger challenge for them. I’ll think about that next year,” he said.
Because he will be back.
“It’s obviously changed the Boston Marathon forever,” said Haggerty, who has run Boston nine times, including the last five. “I certainly will be back next year, for a number of reasons, one of which is that I don’t feel at all afraid to return to Boston. I’m confident in the law enforcement folks that are protecting the marathon and other events, not only in Boston but other parts of the world.”
