Toronto Marathon runners show support for Boston bombing victims

（Xinhua）  13:41, May 07, 2013  

TORONTO, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Besides testing their physical limits, thousands of runners took part in the Toronto Marathon on Sunday to pay tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

The tragedy in Boston, which killed three people and injured over 260 others just last month, set the tone for the 35th annual run - a qualifier for the Boston Marathon - in the Canadian city of Toronto.

Besides a moment of silence before the 42-kilometer race, there were many small visual reminders throughout the event. Marathoners donned blue-and-yellow outfits, had small "Remember Boston" ribbons printed on their bibs, and special T-shirts that read "Boston, we run with you", to show their support.

Instead of deterring participants from coming out to take part in the run this year, the event's race director Jay Glassman said it's brought out even more people than usual.

"There was a bit of a spike with people that weren't necessarily going to run or hadn't trained to run, but decided to run because of what happened just to show their solidarity with the running community," he said.