First Responders Raise Over $100,000 at Gillette Stadium Workout Marathon

Nearly 500 first responders gathered on the Gillette Stadium field and around Patriot Place over the weekend to participate in a symbolic 26-hour workout marathon that raised $117,000 for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

The METROLEC SWAT team, in conjunction with Gillette Stadium, hosted 37 first response teams for the 26-hour endurance event that began at 2:50 p.m. Saturday, June 22 and concluded shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, June 23, with the goal of raising over $100,000 for The One Fund Boston. Donations are still being accepted on the Boston Strong Workout Marathon’s website (www.bswm617.com) until Monday, June 24, at 2:50 p.m.

“I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Medway Police Sgt. Jason Brennan, event organizer and Metro-LEC SWAT member. “That’s what [this event] is about. It’s about the duty to do some good.”

First responders participating in the event included police officers, firefighters, nurses and paramedics throughout the area, many of whom responded to the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15. Over the weekend, these men and women responded again by raising money through a unique marathon of their own.

“I know a lot of our teams and a lot of [the first responders participating] were directly involved in the events that took place in Boston,” said Brennan. “We looked at when we were deciding how and what we were going to do … we thought a lot about what we were trying to accomplish. One of the things we were trying to accomplish was looking at taking a terrible event and turning it into something positive.”

Participants gathered on the Gillette Stadium field on Saturday, June 22 for opening ceremonies at 2:50 p.m. – the time of the first explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Walpole Police Chief Richard Stillman, who is president of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, welcomed participants to the event.

“The afternoon of April 15, 2013 shall be etched in our minds forever,” Stillman said. “For many of you, the bombing that took place that day has personal meaning. Dozens of you standing before us responded to the call for help. Some of you are heroes today because of your actions.”

Stillman said while the Boston Marathon bombings threatened our safety and tested our resolve it also instilled the type of pride and perseverance exhibited over the weekend by the nearly 500 first responders involved in the workout marathon.

“Your participation and effort in this marathon, on behalf of the victims of this senseless attack, instills pride in all Americans and expounds virtues of sacrifice and courage,” Stillman told the teams of first responders prior to the start of the workout marathon.

First responders participated in 26 separate workout stations in and around Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place over the 26-hour period with many of the event stations designed to reflect the jobs and tasks of all the first responders represented in the workout marathon. The workout began with a scavenger hunt throughout Gillette Stadium and featured other events like flag football, dodgeball, hose carry and a run through the New England Patriots agility course.

On Sunday, the marathon’s 37 teams came together as one to finish the last workout event: Capture the Flag. First responders raced to the top of Gillette Stadium’s 300-level to “capture” miniature American flags before closing ceremonies at 3 p.m.

Just as Brennan instructed prior to the start of the workout marathon, these first responders came together - like they always do - to get the job done and raise over $100,000 for the victims of the Boston Marathon.

“We are going to work together, one team, one mission and we are going to get it done,” Brennan told the event’s participants during Saturday’s opening ceremonies.