In Search of a Marathon Tailgate That Never Was
An e-mail, sent last Sunday night by the senior class officers, promised a BYOB-style cheerfest and a concentration of only-seen-at-The-Game-style spirit in front of the B.C. campus gate so seniors too lazy to train for the 26.2 mile schlep could support their peers. But when Marathon Monday came, while about thirty of their classmates struggled up and down Heartbreak Hill, a very small handful of Harvard spectators found themselves tailgate-less amidst a crowd of bright gold Boston College (BC) t-shirts, the sole Crimson voices in the heart of Eagle country at Mile 21.
“We are a four-person tailgate,” lamented Coleen M. Gargan ’02, a 21-year-old Boston resident, who has never watched the marathon before. “The BC people are so spirited, but maybe it’s because they’re handing out free t-shirts.”
Although Harvard does not receive a day off in celebration of Patriots Day, when the shot heard ‘round the world, fired on the battle green of Lexington and Concord, is commemorated by the starting gun of the Boston Marathon in Hopkington, Mass, a group of students left their classes behind to search for the elusive tailgate.
Eric M. Green ‘02 said he gave up on finding the Harvard tailgate in the sea of yellow and gold, although he said he could offer a Harvard runner the remains of his fly-by lunch if he or she so requested.
Preston S. Golson ’02 was ready to provide a hungry classmate with his egg salad sandwich and Daniel Z. Fox ‘02 offered the lollipop in his pocket.
Golson and Fox looked longingly at the neatly arranged orange slices and cups of gatorade the more prepared BC tailgaters had to offer runners.
Steven M. Hackbarth ’02—wearing a homemade “Mad Dog” Hanes undershirt—jogged by, followed by dainty-footed class marshal Nicholas N. Lau ‘02, who ran the marathon with zero training runs under his belt. The gritty band of Harvard support, scattered in this decidedly non-Cambridge territory, made its presence known.
It was hard to hear shouts of encouragement for Harvard among all the “Go BC!!!”s, but the band of Crimson supporters supplied a different brand of spirited support.
In a desperate attempt at supportive contact, Gargan tried the cell phone of her friend running the marathon, noting, “Andrea [L. Olshan ’02] is a very in-touch girl. She might have it with her.”
Eventually, the itinerant tailgate of Green, Gargan, Fox and Golson stumbled upon the lonely Morgan E. Hall ’02 and Myung H. Joh ‘02, who were milling about at Mile 22.
Though Hall and Gargan swore they would begin training for next year’s marathon that very afternoon, Green said watching his friends in pain convinced him that running simply wasn’t worth the trouble.
In the end the wandering seniors were only slightly upset that the tailgate failed to materialize. “All it would have taken was a flag and some food to congregate in one location,” Golson grumbled. “But it’s okay.”
The seniors may not have been enthusiastic about forced mingling with hundreds of BC types, but a reminder of common college problems brought everyone together, at least for a moment, as two girls wearing “HIRE ME” t-shirts with their resumes pasted on ran past the crowd, which cheered loudly.