They did it! #BostonMarathon #LetThemRun2021 #BAA #BuckOffCancer
Hoping the Boston Athletic Association will do the right thing and let them run next year.
Posted by Julia Grella on Monday, June 22, 2020
Sisters Jess and Tanya Halliday had been training for the Boston Marathon, originally scheduled for April and rescheduled to September before it was canceled completely. But Jess, an Area I/Aiken eventer who was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in 2018, isn’t one to take “no” for answer. She was determined to cross the Marathon finish line one way or another, and in doing so make a statement to the Boston Athletic Association, which is not honoring charity runners’ bibs or fundraising efforts for future races. The pair trailered in a few blocks away to complete the final leg on horseback.
“On top if this all, my cancer has spread and on June 5 I had part of my lung removed,” Jess told EN. “I took matters into my own hands and today my sister and I were able to cross the finish line together with help from my horses.”
“I figure while I can’t run right now, my main career and my passion — my horses — could help me do it,” she told CBS Boston. “There’s a saying that horses give us the wings we lack and at this point I guess he’s going to give me running shoes, too.”
If you haven’t met the Halliday sisters, you probably should. Determination, strength, perseverance, caring, independent would just be the start to describe them. So many levels of adversity has been thrown their way and they once again found a way to get ahead of it. I hope that the BAA will consider other options to runners displaced by their decision for 2020. #boston #bostonstrong #bostonmarathon #sisters #run #letthemrun #2020 #buckofcancer #finishline #fucovid
Posted by Matt McHugh on Monday, June 22, 2020
Go Jess. Go Tanya. Go Eventing.
