{"id":413294,"date":"2026-04-23T10:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413294\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:49:08","slug":"co-down-runner-helps-man-who-collapsed-to-finish-boston-marathon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413294\/","title":{"rendered":"Co Down runner helps man who collapsed to finish Boston Marathon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of Boston Marathon<\/a> runners who teamed up to help a fellow athlete across the race\u2019s finish line have been praised for their \u201cbeautiful moment\u201d of sportsmanship.<\/p>\n

Ajay Haridasse (21), a university student from Wakefield, Massachusetts, found himself stumbling after passing the 26-mile mark in Monday\u2019s race. After falling for a fourth time, he was \u201cgetting ready to crawl\u201d to the finish line, Haridasse told the Boston Herald.<\/p>\n

As he attempted to regain his strength, Aaron Beggs (40), from Co Down, appeared on his left side and pulled Haridasse to his feet. Haridasse stumbled again, only to be caught from behind by another runner, Robson De Oliveira (36) Brazil. <\/p>\n

Beggs and De Oliveira lifted Haridasse\u2019s arms around their shoulders and ran the remaining distance down Boylston Street together until they crossed the finish line.<\/p>\n

The scene drew praise from spectators at the race and viewers online. One video of the interaction has received more than 2m likes on TikTok, while a joint Instagram post by De Oliveira and Beggs has more than 8,000 reposts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two men set aside their pride of what place they finished to help a stranger who worked just as hard as they did to enter the marathon,\u201d one commenter said. \u201cThis is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another commenter hailed the trio as \u201cthe three Musketeers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The race took a toll on De Oliveira too, and he was taken to a medical tent by staff after crossing the finish line. The Brazilian said the choice to help his fellow runner was a \u201csplit-second decision\u201d that came as he was nearing a personal best time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wouldn\u2019t have the strength to help him on my own. In that moment, I thought: God, if someone stops, I\u2019ll stop too and help him. And God was so generous to us that [Beggs] stopped, and I knew I could help, because two are stronger than one. I\u2019m grateful to God for the strength. He gave us in that moment and that Harid didn\u2019t give up,\u201d De Oliveira wrote on Instagram. \u201cMy friend, you were incredibly strong! Congratulations on the race \u2013 this is the spirit of Boston!\u201d<\/p>\n

Beggs commented on De Oliveira\u2019s post, praising the \u201cselfless commitment to put others before yourself\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Army corporal from Bangor was also hailed by the North Down Athletic Club, a running group in Co Down.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur superstar on the finishing straight at Boston Marathon to a time of 2hr44 couldn\u2019t pass an athlete in distress,\u201d the club wrote in a social media post. \u201cWhat a gentleman! What a phenomenal sportsman.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Oliveira finished with an official time of 2:44:26, followed by Haridasse at 2:44:32 and Beggs at 2:44:36. Monday marked the 130th edition of the Boston Marathon, which is widely considered one of the world\u2019s most difficult races for its tough qualifying standards, hilly terrain and competitive field.<\/p>\n

Haridasse told the Boston Herald the marathon was \u201cthe greatest experience ever\u201d and that he will \u201cdefinitely\u201d be running the race again. De Oliveira also said he plans to return in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be back here in 2027, God willing,\u201d he wrote on Instagram. \u201cI won\u2019t give up on breaking the 2:40 barrier in this distance!\u201d \u2013 Guardian News and Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of Boston Marathon runners who teamed up to help a fellow athlete across the race\u2019s finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-413294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}