Sports

Locals To Run In 115th Boston Marathon For Charity

For two local from Dover, it will be their first time running the Boston Marathon.

Today is the 115th running of the Boston Marathon and two first-time Marathon runners from Dover will be running for two good causes.

Dover residents Nate Van Duzer, who has raised over $15,000 for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, and Kirsten Scott, who has worked to raise over $2,000 for the Ron Burton Training Village, are running their first Boston Marathon today.

Scott, a recent graduate of Wellesley College, has always wanted to run in the Boston Marathon after years of cheering the runners along at Wellesley.

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"I went to Wellesley College and was part of the scream tunnel," which is the half-way point of the Marathon, Scott said. "There are so many screaming girls it’s called the scream tunnel." 

The charity she'll be running for is Ron Burton Training Challenge which provides opportunities for low income youths. So far Scott has raised over $2000.

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“The Ron Burton Training Challenge is an incredible program that takes at-risk youth men and women from inner cities all over cities across Mass. and they are mentored with social values with the goal of getting into college,” Scott said. “I think that too often we overlook the importance of education in our country. There are definitely people who are left out.”

“The money that I raised goes directly toward sponsoring a kid,” said Scott.

Scott has never run a marathon before but was an athlete during high school and college.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a runner. I’m a rower. I did crew through high school and college,” Scott said.

Kirsten said she is a little nervous about finishing the race.

“Absolutely, you spend 6 months fully training and there are no guarantees. In March I got really bad shin splints and had to go through physical therapy,” she said.

“In my training plan, the longest run was 20 miles,” said Scott. “The longest I actually ran was 16 miles.”

While training she ran in Dover, Wellesley, Needham, Newton, and did some runs on the race course in Boston to get a feel for it.

“It was amazing to think I was running 15-16 miles in a week to running 15-16 miles in a day,” Kirsten said.

But in the end it is all for a good cause she said.

Nate Van Duzer has raised over $15,000 for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Austism and is part of a ten person team put together by a friend of his who owns a software company called Bayasoft.

"He needed one more person to round out a team of ten," said Van Duzer.

Van Duzer has been training for months around Dover to prepare for the Marathon.

“I run probably 4-5 times a week. So this is a big step up for me,” Van Duzer said.

“It’s been hard running through the winter,” said Nate. “Dover’s a much different place when it’s five in the morning and 20 degrees out.”

Out of the ten people on his team Van Duzer has raised the most money for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, but every penny counts.

“It’s remarkable how much more pervasive Autism is today and there’s all sorts of forms,” he said.

Van Duzer has run in the Hartford Marathon and said he has enjoyed the camaraderie with the other runners, but he is looking forward to the end of the race.

“Some people say they get the marathon bug. I haven’t gotten that yet,” Van Duzer said. “It’ll be nice to finish it.”

Some people train their whole lives to win the Boston Marathon and others train year-round to try and best their times from the year before. But for these two local runners from Dover, their first time running the Boston Marathon will make quite a difference.

We will be tracking Kirsten and Nate's progress in the Boston Marathon and giving you updates as they make it to the 10K, half-way, 30K, and finish line of the race. 

 

 

 

 


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