Saved by the crowd
SLIPPERY ROCK — One good turn deserves another.
Seneca Valley assistant track coach and Slippery Rock resident Gar Bercury, and his stepmother, Renee Bercury, lived out that saying at the 18-mile mark during Monday's Boston Marathon.
Gar, 44, was competing in the second marathon of his lifetime. He ran last year's Pittsburgh Marathon in two hours, 58.44 minutes.
“My goal was to run Boston in less than 2:50,” he said. “I felt good and confident.
“Then I received a rude awakening.”
The weather.
The Boston Marathon course runs from west to east. Runners ran directly into a head-wind between 20 and 40 miles per hour. The temperature was in the upper 30s, wind chills in the 20s with a cold rain falling all day.
By the time Bercury hit the 18th mile — by the famed Newton Hills portion of the marathon — Gar fell apart.
“I was dealing with hypothermia. I was very fortunate there were incredibly wonderful people watching the race,” he said.
A dragging Gar Bercury was dragged off the course by onlookers, taken into a stranger's home, received medical treatment, warmed up and was eventually transported by an Uber to rejoin his family in downtown Boston.
Before her son was rescued, Renee Bercury performed a rescue mission of her own.
Runner Steven Stallis, 27, showed up to run the Boston Marathon in just regular running gear.
He was paying for it, fading mentally and physically, admittedly being driven to tears by the punishing elements.
Renee Bercury saw Stallis approaching minutes before Gar arrived at that mark.
“My stepmom is an amazingly giving person by nature,” Gar Bercury said. “She saw the man was in trouble, took off her raincoat and threw it to him.”
““He (Stallis) has run a number of marathons and plans on doing one in September. Gar will keep me updated on how he's doing.”
As for Gar Bercury, he plans to return to the Boston Marathon.
A full story appears Friday's Butler Eagle.
