Framingham Couple Highlighted in Sports Illustrated's Marathon Issue

Editor's Note: Originally post on Sunday, April 20 at 1 p.m. Updated on 4/22.

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The cover of this week's Sports Illustrated featuring hundreds of people "Boston Strong," in support of Monday's 118th running of the Boston Marathon has made many media reports.

But inside the April 21, 2014 issue are feature stories on those along the route and those who support the runners. One of those features is on Framingham residents Rich and Christine Chesmore.

Both are not strangers to many in town. Rich, the former Framingham State track coach, who ran seven Boston Marathons, was a 2010 Salute to Framingham honoree. His wife, Christine works in the office of McCarthy Elementary School in town.

And, Chesmore and his wife volunteer tirelessly with the Greater Framingham Running Club's track program that draws several hundred participants every summer. Among the participants is their granddaughter Kirsten.

But it is their work, for years, helping the Boston Marathon runners in Ashland, why they are highlighted in Sports Illustrated. 

For the last 28 years, the couple have run a water station in Ashland, near mile 3, close to the Framingham border on Route 135.

The Chesmores and about 70 volunteers set up 11 10-foot tables on either side of Route 135 in Ashland, anticipating more than 20,000 runners. This year, close to 35,000 are anticipated.

Last year, Chris read a Boston Athletic Association scripted statement calling for a 26-second silence for those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School before the start of the race. 

And, as we all know, many did not finish the race that afternoon, due to the bombs that exploded. Three were killed and many more lost limbs and were injured.

But all of that happened after the rush of runners came by the Chesmore's water station.

You can read more about the rush of runners, and about Rich Chesmore's Boston Marathon run in 1983, where he ran for miles with eventual women's winner Joan Benoit in the online version of SI's article here. The print version is longer.

The Chesmore began instilling their love for the Boston Marathon with their daughter Richelle at an early age. Christine said she wheeled her baby daughter in a carriage to her first Boston Marathon in 1975, to Sports Illustrated.

“Being a townie - in any town along the course - you are steeped in that tradition from the time you are born,” Richelle Harrod, the couple's daughter who lives in Framingham and now works as a Spanish teacher at the Hopkinton High told Sports Illustrated. “It goes right by your house. It’s in your blood. It’s where you live.”

Running also runs in the family's blood, as Pete and Richelle Harrod's son Andrew is a member of the Framingham High track team and recently won the Dunning Dash 5K earlier this month.

And daughter Kirsten, who participates in the summer track program, also has aspirations of being a member of the cross country at Framingham High.

And no surprise, Richelle and Pete and their son Andrew all volunteer at the water station in Ashland, too.