Here is a story from the Salem News about yesterdays run at the Salem Commons. Along with the many kids that participated from the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, there were also a few members of the Wicked Running Club enjoying the afternoon as well. For more photos from yesterdays run click on: Boys & Girls Club Marathon kids. Wicked runners who showed up to support the Boys & Girls Club efforts to run 26.2 miles in support of Steve’s team were Steve’s Team members: Beth O’Grady, Karen Giroux, Stephaine Cooper, Alison Phelan and Sally Holtzman. Other wicked runners joining in were: Billy Shea, Patrick Smith, Doug Bollen, John Mahoney and Maria Ramirez.
Sister, club running in director’s memory
By Tom Dalton
Staff writer
SALEM — After Steve O’Grady was killed by a drunken driver 10 years ago, his older sister Beth pledged to run 10 marathons in his memory over the next decade and to raise $40,000 by what would have been his 40th birthday.
Both goals are within sight.
This year’s Boston Marathon on April 20 will be her 10th.
When she crosses the finish line, O’Grady will have a lot of well-wishers at her side, literally and figuratively.
Family and friends will cheer her on, and members of “Steve’s Team,” a running squad O’Grady formed, will be running with her on the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston.
And members of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, where Steve O’Grady was executive director, will be in her thoughts and pushing her along, though they won’t be running the Boston Marathon themselves.
Since the start of the year, nearly 100 members of the youth organization have been running to raise money in Steve O’Grady’s memory. With the help of pledges secured by the club’s board, they expect to raise $2,620 — $100 for each mile of the marathon.
The children have been running inside the old gym at the Hawthorne Boulevard headquarters of the club. Yesterday, more than 50 children joined O’Grady to run outside on the cinder track around Salem Common.
Although many were born after the crash, the kids have been learning about the former director, a popular youth leader and Little League manager who was killed just weeks after his 30th birthday. They have read news clippings and even watched a video of Steve O’Grady leading a tour of the club, a film made just days before he died.
Beth O’Grady is all smiles during yesterday’s run at the Salem Common.
“I felt it would be kind of nice to run in honor of him because he was a big influence on the club,” said Connor Antony, 10, a fifth-grader at Witchcraft Heights School.
The goal for older children is to try to run all 26 miles between Jan. 1 and the actual marathon.
One of the most impressive feats has been turned in by a young club member. Before yesterday’s run, Qasim El-Ashkar, 8, had run 15 miles, all of it inside the club’s gym. That translates to 379 laps.
“Sometimes I walk,” said the second-grader at Bentley School.
The club members who have been running in Steve O’Grady’s memory have received an invitation to Fenway Park to be recognized on the field at a Red Sox game the day before the marathon. The club is working out details now.
Beth O’Grady, a former president of the Boys & Girls Club, beamed yesterday as she stood on the Common watching the little children stretching with members of the Salem High School track team, some of whom are former club members.
The track team came down because its assistant coach, Karen Giroux, is a member of “Steve’s Team.”
“I just love it,” O’Grady said. “This is what we hoped for — to bring together as many kids in the community as possible.”
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