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'Superstar' runners praised for helping exhausted man finish marathon

Eimear FlanaganBBC News NI
News imageREUTERS/CJ Gunther Three men wearing black shorts and different coloured running vests jog towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon with their arms around each other. Robson De Oliveira, who has short, dark hair and a moustasch and is wearing a white vest and a white headband. Ajay Haridasse has short, dark hair and a black vest. Aaron Beggs has short brown hair and a beard and is wearing a yellow vest with a blue stripe. REUTERS/CJ Gunther
Aaron Beggs (in the yellow vest) and Robson De Oliveira stopped to help carry an exhausted Ajay Haridasse over the finish line

After almost three hours on their feet and the finish line in sight, two runners sacrificed personal bests to come to the rescue of an exhausted competitor at the Boston Marathon.

Aaron Beggs was first to stop to pull Ajay Haridasse up off the ground after he fell and could not get up.

With Haridasse still struggling to stay on his feet, another runner, Robson De Oliveira, stepped in and the pair put their arms around Haridasse to help him across the line.

Beggs is a member of North Down Athletic Club in Northern Ireland, which hailed him as a "superstar" who "couldn't pass an athlete in distress".

"What a gentleman! What a phenomenal sportsman. Our Aaron Beggs," the club said in a post in social media.

The incident was filmed by several spectators who witnessed Haridasse falling shortly after the 26 mile (41.8km) mark.

The footage showed a debilitated Haridasse making several attempts to get back on his feet while onlookers shouted encouragement.

Dozens of competitors passed the struggling athlete, until Beggs, dressed in a yellow and blue North Down Athletic Club vest, stopped to provide assistance.

He put both his hands out to pull Haridasse up off the ground, but struggled to steady the exhausted runner.

Then De Oliveira - who was on track to run his fastest-ever marathon - also paused his own race to help Beggs carry Haridasse over the line.

The pair's selfless actions, sacrificing their own race times, prompted cheers from the crowd who were lining the finishing straight.

Spectators filmed the incident from multiple angles and posted it on social media.

At the time of writing, one of the posts has been viewed more than two million times on X.

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'Our superstar'

Speaking to the Boston Herald, Haridasse said: "After falling down the fourth time, I was getting ready to crawl."

He praised his rescuers, acknowledging that De Oliveira in particular had sacrificed a probable personal best in order to help him.

"If he didn't help me, that would have been his fastest race ever," Haridasse said.

Writing on Instagram, De Oliveira said he saw Haridasse collapsing in the distance close to the end but he knew he did not 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'."

De Oliveira praised Beggs for stopping, saying: "I knew I could help, because two are stronger than one."

Posting on Instagram, Beggs also acknowledged De Oliveira's "selfless commitment to put others before yourself" and called him a "true star".