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04/16/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2026 22:51

For These BU Community Members, the 2026 Boston Marathon Is a Chance to Help Others

For These BU Community Members, the 2026 Boston Marathon Is a Chance to Help Others

They're running to raise funds for cancer research, local hospitals, addiction resources, youth advocacy, and more

The 130th Boston Marathon is Monday, April 20. Approximately 30,000 runners from around the world are expected to run the 26.2-mile course. Photo via AP/Ziyu Julian Zhu/Xinhua/VCG

Boston Marathon

For These BU Community Members, the 2026 Boston Marathon Is a Chance to Help Others

They're running to raise funds for cancer research, local hospitals, addiction resources, youth advocacy, and more

April 16, 2026
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Patriots' Day is a day of celebration each spring in Boston. The statewide holiday commemorates the beginning of the Revolutionary War-and coincides with the running of the Boston Marathon.

Every year on the third Monday of April, the best runners from around the globe flock to Boston to compete in one of the world's most prestigious races. This year's race-the 130th-will feature more than 30,000 competitors tackling the 26.2-mile course that stretches all the way from Hopkinton, Mass., to Copley Square. The race starts around 9 am.

More than 24,000 of those runners qualified by meeting the time standard for their age group. Others-including many from the Boston University community-are participating through the Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program, with each runner required to raise $10,000 for an approved charity.

We spoke with nine members of the BU community about why they're running this year and the causes they're supporting.

Mariia Yelizarova (CAS'15)

Mariia Yelizarova (CAS'15). Photo courtesy of Mariia Yelizarova

Mariia Yelizarova was a spectator at the finish line in 2013 when the Boston Marathon bombings took place. In that moment, she knew if she was to run one marathon, it would be Boston's.

"I had to run Boston to show that we will never bow down to terrorism, we will not be defeated," Yelizarova says. "As a Ukrainian, that sentiment grew even stronger with the start of the war there."

This year, she's making good on that promise. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Yelizarova was looking for an organization to support her home country. That's when she found One World Strong, a nonprofit founded and supported by survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings whose mission is to establish a vibrant international community of survivors of terrorism, hate crimes, or traumatic events. It provides peer-to-peer hope, support, and mentorship to anyone impacted by those events.

Running to support One World Strong-and, specifically, its Unbroken Cities initiative, which raises funds for Ukraine and those affected by the war with Russia-aligned with her own values and vision. After meeting the nonprofit's founder, Dave Fortier, earlier this year, she knew she'd found the right organization to support.

With the money Yelizarova is raising, her goal is to send a 3D printer to Ukraine that prints sockets for prosthetic limbs. She's raised over $25,000 so far.

"This will significantly reduce the load on the hospitals in Ukraine," she says.

The plan is for Yelizarova and others involved in the nonprofit to personally deliver the printer to Ukraine in May and assist with the training. It would be her first trip back home since 2019.

Yelizarova hadn't run a mile until this past July, so when it came to preparing for her first marathon, she hired professional help. She's had to learn how to run, and despite the grueling work, says that pushing herself this far has been exciting.

"I do not enjoy running at all," Yelizarova jokes. "It takes me at least an hour to talk myself into running each time I have to run, whether I have to run a mile or 20-I always have to sit with myself and try to accept my fate."

Even this late in her preparation for the marathon, Yelizarova says it's hard to picture crossing the finish line, but knows the moment will be emotional. She says she's grateful for the outpouring of support and donations she's received from people who have no connection to Ukraine.

And she can't wait to return home for a visit: "It's been hard to be away from family and from friends for so long."

Ray Angelone (MET'98)

Ray Angelone (MET'98). Photo courtesy of Ray Angelone

As he prepares to run his fifth Boston Marathon, choosing an organization to support was a no-brainer for Ray Angelone.

In 2019, the BU alum and part-time lecturer of operations and technology management at BU's Questrom School of Business was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment at Mass General Hospital. He says running this year's race is a chance to give back to the hospital that saved his life.

"I am alive because of Mass General," Angelone says. "The research and the treatment and the care are my little mini missions, which is why I wear my pancreas on my sleeve."

Angelone's goal is to destigmatize digestive issues as a whole, which is another reason he's running the marathon for Mass General.

Training for this year's event has been unlike any other because of the weather. Angelone often had to pivot his long runs to snowshoe journeys or spike hikes. Despite the snow- and cold-related hiccups along the way, he feels ready to run. And this year, he's pushing himself a step further than in past Boston Marathons. Previously, he's walked portions of the race, but this year he wants to run the entire course. Mass General has partnered with Heartbreak Hill Running Company during the process, which has Angelone on a strict training schedule.

"I've done multiple 20-mile runs, and I think I could be on course to be around four hours-running the whole thing," he says. "That's my goal."

Angelone gets emotional just thinking about crossing the finish line. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, and he is now seven years removed from surgery. Every day, every step, is a milestone worth celebrating, he says.

When he feels the difficulty of the course, he simply says to himself, "Eyes up, straighten up, shorten up, one more step."

Elijah Paintsil (Questrom'28)

Elijah Paintsil (Questrom'28). Photo courtesy of Elijah Paintsil

Last year, Elijah Paintsil ran his first Boston Marathon. This year, as he prepares to run the course again, he says the preparation feels easier because he knows what to expect.

As chair and professor of pediatrics at BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and chief of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the school's primary teaching hospital, Paintsil has been training with a team from BMC. He's running this year's marathon to raise funds to support the pediatric department's initiative of creating awareness and improving access to mental health prevention and care for adolescents and young adults in the Greater Boston area.

"We are a bit resource-constrained," Paintsil says. "It becomes important when you have some of these opportunities to do events that raise funds for a hospital that is doing so much with so little."

In addition to his roles at BMC and the medical school, Paintsil is also a student in Questrom's part-time MBA program.

Now, after training for his second marathon, the 60-year-old confesses he's been bitten by the marathon bug. He has goals to run the Tokyo Marathon next year with his son. And, then, he hopes to run the world's other four major marathons (London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York). But he says running the Boston Marathon to support his department has special meaning.

"There are people out there who want to do good, and if you make yourself vulnerable to them, they are definitely going to help," he says.

Marc Lenburg

Marc Lenburg. Photo by Cydney Scott

Marc Lenburg has run five of the world's six major marathons. The only one he hasn't run yet? Boston. He says he's wanted to save his hometown marathon for last, so his family could celebrate his Six Star Medal-a prestigious running award earned by completing all six World Marathon Majors-with him in person.

As a member of the BU medical school faculty for over 20 years, Lenburg, a professor of computational biomedicine and pathology and laboratory medicine, knows the impact Boston Medical Center has on the local community.

"I'm consistently amazed at how much my colleagues at BMC do to find innovative ways to support the health of their patients," he says. "It really clicked for me that this was a chance to raise funds to support the hospital's mission of ensuring accessible and high-quality medical care for everyone in Boston."

Lenburg has done everything he could, short of running the race itself, over the years. He's logged countless miles along the marathon course and has cheered on runners for as long as he can remember. Now, it's his turn.

Caitlyn McCarthy (SHA'28, CAS'28)

Caitlyn McCarthy (SHA'28, CAS'28). Photo by Cydney Scott

When Caitlyn McCarthy was just three years old, she lost her father. The Children's Room, a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting grieving children, teens, and families, helped her and her mother and brother through their loss. McCarthy never forgot the compassionate care she and her family received.

Now a sophomore at BU, McCarthy is running this year's Boston Marathon to support the organization.

"I firsthand have benefited from the support and care that they give to families," she says.

"Even though I don't remember a ton of specifics, I remember always looking forward to going there," she adds. "It was a really great opportunity to be able to talk about what was happening without having to explain yourself or feel like people may not really understand you."

Along with her studies and marathon training, McCarthy is also a member of BU's club ice hockey team; two of her teammates are running the marathon as well. She's had to fit in training whenever she can, including early mornings, late nights, and powering through the snow. But she says the generosity of people willing to help her has kept her motivated.

"I've had a lot of support throughout, which has been huge," she says. "I think it's really taught me a lot about pushing my limits."

When she crosses the finish line on April 20, McCarthy says she'll be thinking about her parents, who both previously ran the marathon.

"It's kind of still surreal that I'm going to have the opportunity to do the same thing," McCarthy says. "I'm already overwhelmed thinking about it, but I'm really excited."

Dana Niland

Dana Niland. Photo by Cydney Scott

When Dana Niland makes her way along the Boston Marathon's 26.2-mile course on Monday, she'll be thinking of her brother, Sean, who died from a drug overdose in 2020 at age 26.

The director of admissions at BU's Metropolitan College, Niland will be running for the Herren Project, a nonprofit that provides a wide range of resources and programs for individuals and families impacted by addiction. The organization was founded by former NBA player Chris Herren, who has battled addiction himself.

Niland was a freshman at Boston College in 2013, just months after the Boston Marathon bombings. She watched her first Boston Marathon in 2014, and hasn't missed it since.

"There's this collective energy of high-spiritedness and fun that coincides with a more serious regard for the strength and resilience we are witnessing in our community," she says. "Every year that I've stood along the course, I've thought about how cool it would be to take a greater part in this event by running it myself. I'm honored to do so this year for an organization whose mission is so meaningful to me."

Niland has been running her whole life. After competing in cross-country in high school, she continued running as her primary form of exercise and has completed several half marathons. She had always toyed with the idea of running a full marathon, and with everything falling into place, it felt like the perfect time.

She says that running has been a way for her to reflect on her relationship with her brother.

"It's important to me to be really intentional about keeping his memory alive and doing things that make me feel connected to him," she says.

Running this year's Boston Marathon, she adds, is a chance to do "something that really asks you to push yourself, and a chance to just think about the struggle that so many people face with addiction every day."

Michael Holick

Michael Holick. Photo courtesy of Michael Holick

Now 80, Michael Holick had never gone on a run before starting training for the 2024 Boston Marathon. In 2021, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 prostate cancer. To overcome the side effects from his androgen deprivation therapy, he began exercising regularly to maintain his muscle function.

"I started walking three to five miles every day, and then my New Year's resolution was to up my activity, and I convinced myself I'm gonna run the Boston Marathon," Holick says. "I had never run in my life, and so I initially ran an eighth of a mile, then a quarter of a mile, but within six months, I ran 25 miles, so I knew that I had the stamina to be able to do it."

His initial goal in deciding to run the Boston Marathon was to inspire older adults with disabilities to improve their overall mental and physical well-being by maintaining a positive attitude.

Holick, a professor of endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition and weight management, and of pharmacology, physiology, and biophysics at BU's medical school, is preparing to run his third Boston Marathon to raise funds to support Tufts Medical Center. His goal is to bring attention to and understanding of the need for compassion and mental and physical rehabilitation for cancer patients with inherited disorders.

He chose to support Tufts Medical Center because he believes the hospital's mission to provide innovative healthcare, treatments, and resources is directly associated with the causes he's passionate about. He's been training hard with the help of his coach Rick Muhr, and is confident he'll be successful on race day.

"My hope is, with this additional training and additional inspirational knowledge from my coach, that maybe I'll be able to run a little bit faster," Holick says.

Ivana Wijedasa (LAW'26)

Ivana Wijedasa (LAW'26). Photo by Cydney Scott

Prior to becoming a law student at BU, Ivana Wijedasa was a school teacher. An incident she witnessed at her school changed the trajectory of her life.

Afraid of getting jumped, a young student brought a hammer to the school one day. As a result, they were suspended. Wijedasa realized how easy it is for children to be forced out of the school system and to become subject to the prison system. Fortunately, the boy was able to return to school, but Wijedasa realized that not all children are so lucky.

That's why, when she decided to run this year's Boston Marathon, she chose to partner with the Youth Advocacy Foundation, an organization that provides children with access to legal representation and quality education and seeks to end the school-to-prison pipeline.

"I'm thrilled to be running with a charity that is working towards a world where children can be children and remain in schools, not prisons," says Wijedasa, who is deeply committed to justice for juveniles. "It's something that I'm really deeply connected to in my career as an attorney. It's really important that children are given the opportunity to have not just access to the council, but just have access to be a kid, to remain in these schools."

Wijedasa didn't start running until she got to Boston College, where she'd run the few miles necessary to grab groceries at the nearby Wegmans. As a freshman in 2019, she watched the Boston Marathon for the first time and began dreaming of running it one day.

"I didn't think it was possible for me," she says. "I never even ran more than five miles until the fall of 2024." That's when a friend convinced her to train for the Cambridge Half Marathon. After that first training session, she was all in. Her belief in herself blossomed, and she signed up for this year's Boston Marathon.

In addition to raising funds to help young people, Wijedasa says she hopes to inspire other women of color to run after their dreams.

And this year's marathon takes place the day before Wijedasa's birthday. "I can't imagine a better way to ring in my 26th birthday than to run 26 miles for the Youth Advocacy Foundation," she says.

Teresa Bandera (Questrom'28)

Teresa Bandera (Questrom'28). Photo by Cydney Scott

Having grown up on the South Shore of Massachusetts, Teresa Bandera had always dreamed of running the Boston Marathon, but she wasn't sure she'd ever have time to pursue it. A global pharmaceutical program manager and an MBA student at Questrom, she has limited free time. Then last year, Bandera started looking for ways to get back into running. A coworker who had previously run the Boston Marathon convinced her to sign up for the Newport Half Marathon.

"From there, I figured it was the time to take the leap and go for Boston," Bandera says.

Bandera has chosen to run the race in support of the foundation named for Lu Lingzi (GRS'13), a BU graduate student who was one of three people killed in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. The Lingzi Foundation, established by Lingzi's family after her death, provides educational opportunities to young people and recognizes those building bridges between communities and cultures. Bandera says that the foundation felt like a natural fit to support.

"Lu Lingzi exuded kindness. There are a lot of stories about how outgoing she was and how deeply she cared about her family, and so the more I learned about her, the more interested I was to have the opportunity to run in her honor," she says.

Balancing life as a graduate student and preparing for a marathon isn't easy, and Bandera says some weeks have been harder than others. It's about fitting in runs when she can and being okay with missing one here and there. What keeps her going is the sense of anticipation as the race gets closer and closer.

"I think it's going to be something I've never felt before. I've never trained for something for this long," Bandera says. "I have had so many amazing friends and family show up for me in different ways, and that's really going to be the highlight for me when I finish-everyone has helped me cross the finish line."

The 130th Boston Marathon is Monday, April 20, starting at 9:02 am with the men's wheelchair division. The race will be televised live on WCVB TV, Channel 5, and can be livestreamed here.

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Boston University published this content on April 16, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 17, 2026 at 04:51 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]