The Cider Mill is a popular gathering spot for many Hamilton students on Saturdays, but most don’t start their trek down the hill at 7 a.m. and take a 26+ mile detour to get there. But on Sept. 12, that’s what Pauline Santry ’21 and her father did, followed by two student bikers who were part of her support team. As participants in the Boston Marathon, Santry and her dad took a couple of loops around the town of Kirkland before finishing their 26.38-mile run near the Cider Mill just shy of four-and-a-half hours later.
“The day went really well. Perfect weather,” Santry said. “We finished with a time of 4:29:52. The support team [all members had special permission from the college to participate] was great ... My friends drove around to different locations on the route to cheer us on with homemade signs, and then everyone went to the finish line on Elm Street to watch us finish, which was awesome.”
Santry’s father has been her running partner since March when she returned home to Brookline, Mass., when the campus closed. With her participation on Hamilton’s crew team no longer an option, running with the goal of participating in the marathon became the substitute.
The two had watched the marathon in the past and had run “every mile of the course.” But, since she couldn’t travel off campus to run in Boston, her father, having tested negative for COVID-19 upon his departure for Clinton, traveled here. Her rowing teammates and suite mates, plus Santry’s rowing coaches, served as the pair’s supporters along the route.
Registered Boston Marathon participants can run the required 26.2 miles (Santry ran a bit extra to cross the chalk finish line her friends had drawn) anytime between Sept. 5 and 14 using a special app to track their time. In Santry’s case, she used a Garmin watch.
The pair ran as members of Stepping Strong Marathon Team, “part of an inspired community dedicated to transforming outcomes for civilian and military trauma patients in Boston and around the world. Funds raised benefit The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital,” according to the team’s website.
