Boston is eerily silent in the aftermath of a series of explosions targeting the Boston Marathon, according to North Vancouver resident Jordan Back.
Two explosive devices detonated near the finish line on Monday, April 15, after the four-hour mark of the race, killing two and injuring dozens more according to the Boston Police Department.
Jordan was born in Powell River. His father, Dennis Back, worked for the City of Powell River in the 1980s. He returned to Powell River temporarily in 2012 as the interim chief administrative officer for Powell River Regional District.
City Councillor Maggie Hathaway is Jordan’s aunt. Her sister, Jordan’s mother, Holly, was at the marathon with him. “It was an absolute moment of terror when I turned on the TV,” Hathaway said. “You just don’t know what’s happened and if they’re okay.”
Hathaway immediately sent Jordan a text, she said, and he texted back in five minutes. “Then I just burst into tears,” she said. “I’m so glad they’re both okay and I’ll have to go to Vancouver and give them a big hug.”
Jordan had run the 26-mile course in about two hours and 40 minutes, a personal best. “I was back in my hotel room getting changed and getting ready to go back outside and cheer on some of the other runners, some of which are from North Van as well,” he said. “That’s when I started hearing the sirens.”
Jordan was one of 39 runners from the North Shore registered for the annual event. He travelled with eight others, all of whom have reported being okay.
“I would describe that atmosphere as a sort of an eerie calm,” Jordan told the North Shore News on Monday evening. “There are some runners walking back to their hotels. I think people are trying to process what’s happening here. Authorities are advising people to stay at home, stay in their hotel, avoid the downtown core, I understand there was a Boston Bruins hockey game. That’s been cancelled as well.
“The atmosphere quickly changed from being one of celebration and a party to a tragedy and a serious emergency in full force.”
Oddly enough, the risk of terrorism was not lost on Jordan when he went to Boston.
“I actually told my mom before any of this took place that I had this thought that something could happen,” he said. “It’s just such a high profile event in such a big American city, that I had this thought in the back of my head that it could be a target and something very terrible could take place and I’m just so sorry that something has taken place.”
Jordan, a prolific marathon runner, said he’s unsure if he will continue to go to larger-scale events that draw tens of thousands of runners and hundreds of thousands of spectators.
“I can honestly tell you that I’m going to think twice and I’m not sure that I will choose the big ones,” he said.
-with files from Brent Richter, North Shore News
