One of the snaps of the Boston marathon taken by Edel McGovern
‘An awful end to an amazing event’, was how former Fermanagh ladies All-Ireland football captain, Edel McGovern described Monday’s terror blasts at the Boston Marathon.
It left three dead and hundreds injured.
Edel was one of thousands involved in the annual race and jumped in at mile 21 to help a friend finish the race.
“It was at about mile 23 we started hearing reports of an explosion, but we weren’t sure what was happening.
“The girl I was running with was trying to contact her family who were due to meet her at the finish line, so we were all very worried at that point.
“We got to 25 1/2 miles and got stopped. We then tried to contact others we knew were running and make sure they were all ok. It was crazy!”
Edel, originally from Florencecourt, moved over to Boston, where her sister Sharon also lives, last year to pursue a career in physiotherapy. Thankfully she made it safely home on Monday, with all her friends and those she knew also safe from harm. She described watching the moments back on television as, ‘madness’, but was just thankful no-one she knew was caught up in the blast.
Such was the speed the news travelled around the world, friends and family from Fermanagh all tried to make contact with Edel to check on her well-being.
“I think you at home knew more about it before we did, the phone lines were jammed. Once I got my phone, there were several messages from friends and family at home through Facebook, Viber and Whatsapp.”
Edel continued: “The crowds of people out were amazing, the atmosphere was great, with everyone supporting an cheering on the runners. We are still in shock about it here, it was such an awful end to what was an amazing event.”
Geraldine McGovern, Edel and Sharon’s mother, explained how massive worry turned to huge relief when she learnt her two daughters were safe.
“The first I heard about it was the headline on the RTE news, and it naturally grabbed my attention as I have the two girls out there.
“I was in shock, but I was able to get into contact with Sharon straight away and we were able to ascertain Edel was running part of the race, but was some kilometres away from the blasts.
“It was just a terrible feeling when I heard it first, I just wanted to get into contact with them. When I ascertained contact with Sharon though, it relieved the situation quite a bit.
“This was just a terrible thing to happen, but I was just glad to hear the two of them were ok and I was able to speak to both of them on the phone.”
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