INSPIRATION ALERT! Runner Dies in Mile 25 of Marathon, and Fellow Competitors Drag His Corpse Across Finish Line
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When James Polk toed the line of his third marathon Sunday, his stated goal was “just to finish.” And, thanks to three fellow runners, the 51-year-old high school math teacher did just that—despite collapsing and dying in mile 25.
“We did what anyone would do,” said Zachary Taylor, 33, who saw Polk fall about three-quarters of a mile from the finish of the Maison Blanche Marathon in Van Buren, Louisiana. “[Polk] had made it that far; we were determined to get him the rest of the way.”
Taylor and two other runners, John Adams and James Buchanan, first tried to revive Polk, they said, before agreeing that he was deceased. After that, the three quickly decided they would make sure he finished the race.
“We just pulled him up and dragged him along,” said Buchanan. “It wasn’t easy—he was not, shall we say, svelte—but between the three of us, we managed.”
Adams added that the cheers of spectators helped them along.
“The crowd was roaring,” he said. “That made a big difference, especially in the final few hundred meters.”
By the time Taylor, Adams, and Buchanan pulled Polk’s corpse across the finish line, the body was bruised and abraded and they were exhausted. But, the three said, they wouldn’t have done it any other way.
“It’s what he would have wanted,” said Taylor. “I mean, I didn’t know the guy personally. But as a fellow runner, I imagine it’s what he would have wanted.”
