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In a display of true sportsmanship, two runners helped an exhausted competitor at the Boston Marathon cross the finish line.
Aaron Beggs, of Northern Ireland, and Robson De Oliveira, of Brazil, put their personal best on hold to help Ajay Haridasse, a Massachusetts native and student at Northeastern University, after he collapsed on Monday just 305 metres from the end of the course.
Beggs, who had also been feeling sick and exhausted, reminded himself of all the people in his running club who might never get to experience the Boston Marathon.
“Then when I came down and up towards Boylston Street, the crowd started cheering and I just turned the corner and happened to see Ajay fall,” Beggs told The Associated Press. “I looked at my watch, and I looked at him again, and the natural instinct was just to go and pick him up.”
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“We were shaking hands as we were running, and was like, ‘We’ve got this. Let’s do this together,’” he added. “It’s not like in shorter races where you’re head-to-head trying to beat people. In the marathon, you’re cheering each other on and encouraging everybody.”
Haridasse told the Boston Herald that he was “getting ready to crawl” to the finish line after falling down for the fourth time.
The heartwarming moment near the finish line was filmed by several spectators and shared online.
Haridasse said he looked up Beggs and De Oliveira’s bibs and Instagram accounts and messaged them both to thank them for sacrificing their own times in order to help him.
“If he didn’t help me, that would have been his fastest race ever,” Haridasse said of De Oliveira.
“And God was so generous to us that @aaronthomasbeggs stopped, and I knew I could help, because two are stronger than one. I’m grateful to God for the strength He gave us in that moment, and that Harid didn’t give up. My friend, you were incredibly strong. Congratulations on the race — this is the spirit of Boston!”
Beggs said he has been in touch with Haridasse and hopes to reconnect with De Oliveira. The trio’s finishing time was still good enough to qualify them for next year’s race.
“Three strangers, three different countries, and we’ll have a story for the rest of our lives,” Beggs said. “We all need just a nice story in our lives, just to make us smile, bring a tear to your eye with happiness. And it’s nice to be nice.”
Haridasse called the race “the greatest experience ever” and noted that he will “definitely” be running the marathon again.
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
