One participant in this year’s Boston Marathon towered above the rest. Longtime Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chára (who stands 6'9") is one of several former sports stars participating in the 127th edition of the nation’s most famous road race.
Chára, 46, retired after last season following a 24-year NHL career. He’s running in support of two charities, one that benefits people with cerebral palsy and one that benefits people with paralysis. (About 20% of Boston Marathon participants earn their spot in the field by raising money for charity.)
Chara. Boston Marathon. Legend. pic.twitter.com/0stSubeMTT
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) April 17, 2023
He isn’t the only former player from a Boston team running the race. Brock Holt, who played seven seasons as a utilityman for the Red Sox, is also taking part. So is pitcher Ryan Dempster, a 16-year MLB veteran who played his final season in Boston. Holt and Dempster were members of the 2013 Red Sox team that won the World Series just months after the bombing at the marathon that killed three people and injured more than 250 others.
Dempster told Boston.com that he was inspired to enter the race as he reflected on the emotions he felt 10 years ago. He’s running in support of the Lingzi Foundation, a charity founded in memory of bombing victim Lingzi Lu. Holt is supporting the Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based cancer charity that he worked with during his time with the Red Sox. Longtime MLB reliever Mike Myers, who was part of Boston’s curse-breaking World Series team in 2004, is running for the second time (supporting an ALS charity). Kourtney Turner, the wife of current Red Sox player Justin Turner, is running as well.
Former pro tennis player Monica Puig, an Olympic gold medalist in 2016, is also participating. She’s registered under her married name, Monica Rakitt. (Yes, in November, the tennis star married a man whose name sounds like racket.) Her goal is to run all six of the major world marathons by 2024, including the London marathon six days from now.
The oldest of the former elite athletes participating is Doug Flutie, the former NFL quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 at Boston College. (He’s running in support of his Doug Flutie Foundation, which benefits people and families affected by autism.
Flutie was given bib No. 222, as a nod to the No. 22 he wore at BC and No. 2 he wore with the Patriots. Chára, Holt and Dempster got bib numbers that are their former jersey numbers repeated (3333, 1212 and 4646). Puig’s bib number is 2016, for the year she won her gold medal.
Here are each person’s finish times:
