HOPKINTON, MA – Fresh from running a cool 26.2 miles in a little race known as the Boston Marathon, Russ & Troy Hoyt continue to honor the memory of Rick & Dick Hoyt – the father/son team who helped pave the way for pushing duos racing around the world.
“The ‘yes you can’ spirit is alive and will be forever,” says Russ Hoyt, President & CEO of the Team Hoyt Foundation. “The first duo pushing another person happened in 1980, and now 45 years later there’s hundreds of duos racing all over the world. They’ve created a movement.”
Russ’ brother, Rick Hoyt, had been born with cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen. “The doctors said to my mother and father, ‘your son is gonna be a vegetable. Put him away, have other children, just forget about him’ and my parents said, ‘absolutely no way’.” Yet Rick’s parents, Dick and Judy, were determined not to let that stop their son from living a full life. Russ recalls watching his mother fiercely advocate for his sibling growing up, refusing to let any regulatory barriers get in the way of her son achieving his goals. “She changed laws in the commonwealth of Massachusetts to allow people with disabilities to be included in public schools.”
One day, Rick asked to run a local race to benefit a lacrosse player that had been seriously injured. With his father pushing behind him for the 5k race, the pair began a beautiful journey that grew to include the Boston Marathon where they would continue to run for 32 straight years.
Today, 10 years since their last race down Boylston, a father/daughter duo ran in their honor alongside Zdeno Chara for Team Hoyt as Russ and his son Troy prepare to honor their legacy with a race in the Hoyt name coming up on May 25th. “I’m looking forward to the atmosphere, all the energy,” says Troy Hoyt.
The 5 mile race launching from Marathon Elementary School in Hopkinton will pass by a statue dedicated to Dick & Rick, and will be sponsored by Start Line Brewing. “They’re gonna be able to come back to EMC Park and have a wonderful finish party. We have a beer garden, ice cream truck, a children’s race…a really cool t-shirt that says ‘yes you can’, a finisher’s medal that is going to be an awesome reflection of that spirit and we’re gonna get to celebrate Dad & Rick’s memory.”
Not a runner? No worries. The race also offers a 2 mile walk option and a children’s race – or, you can come just to cheer the runners on. “They’re going to be able to have their families come and enjoy a time where everyone can be included.”
To learn more about Team Hoyt or sign up for the race, visit their website.
To see more stories like this or if you have an event you’d like to pitch to Emmalyn to cover, email emmalyn@emmalynreid.com.
Emmalyn Reid 