Aaron Beggs was on target for a personal best time during Monday’s Boston Marathon when his conscience got the better of him.
As he neared the end of the race, the 40-year-old from Co Down stopped to help Ajay Haridasse (21), who had collapsed just metres from the finish line.
A video of Beggs and another marathon runner, Robson De Oliveira (36) from Brazil, propping up Haridasse as they crossed the finish line has been widely shared online, winning them many plaudits.
“If I was in the same position again, I couldn’t say that I would do it,” said Beggs.
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“I just did it because I felt it was the right thing to do at that time. And yes, I know some people have their phones and everything else, but that’s not going through your head and you don’t think of that. You’re just trying to be a nice human. It’s nice to be nice and help people out.”
After the Co Down man helped Haridasse cross the finish line, along with De Oliveira, the trio clocked 2:44:36, 2:44:32 and 2:44:26 respectively, meaning they all qualify to participate in the race next year. There are already talks about the trio doing so.
“If I’m back I would definitely meet up with the two of them over there,” Beggs said.
In the meantime, he plans to compete in the upcoming Belfast marathon, which takes place on May 3rd, allowing him just under two weeks to recover between races.
The Boston Marathon took a toll on De Oliveira, and he was brought to a medical tent after crossing the finish line. He said the choice to help his fellow runner was a “split-second decision” that came as he was nearing a personal best time.
Beggs said De Oliveira “was an absolute star” in the situation they found themselves in. “He completely fainted on the finish line and ended up in a worse state than Ajay, and without him, I would have struggled to do it myself.”
De Oliveira shared a video of the moment in a joint Instagram post with Beggs, with the caption: “I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to help him on my own. In that moment, I thought: God, if someone stops, I’ll stop too and help him. And God was so generous to us that [Beggs] stopped, and I knew I could help, because two are stronger than one.”
Beggs said he believed the clip of the selfless moment received such a positive response because of the feelgood nature of it. One video of the interaction had received more than 2 million likes on TikTok as of Thursday morning, while the joint Instagram post by De Oliveira and Beggs had more than 8,000 reposts.
The Bangor man said online commentators have criticised the runners who did not stop, but that he does not judge them.
“Everybody’s talking about all the runners that ran by but everybody has their own personal goals and want to qualify for races and everything else.”
“Sometimes you have to be selfish as well, but something inside me just decided to do the selfless commitment and go and help them.”
Beggs said his actions helped Haridasse, from nearby Wakefield, Massachusetts, to achieve his lifelong goal of completing the Boston Marathon.
“I showed that one simple act goes a long way to help somebody. There’s so much negative about the world at this current time that people are just looking for an inspiring story. Let’s hope they keep it in mind themselves”.
The runner said he believes sport is a great uniting force.
“In Northern Ireland, there’s all the different political backgrounds and everything else but with sport, it seems to unite this country. The likes of Rory McIlroy, and Stephen Scullion and Carl Frampton – it doesn’t matter where you’re from, we all cheer them on and hope they do well and wish them all the best”.
