Boston Marathon stories rise
With Boston approaching, Stephanie McHugh is running again after beating cancer and Adam Averback is running to honor his father and his own cancer survival — adaptive athletes and inclusion events are also being highlighted ahead of race day. (boston.com)(boston.com)(boston25news.com)
Stephanie McHugh is 42 and listed as from Braintree; she’s running the 130th Boston Marathon with the Patriots Charitable Foundation and this will be her third Boston and fourth marathon overall. (boston.com) McHugh was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2023, underwent five months of chemotherapy and three major surgeries, and credited physical therapy and a running mentor, Susan Hurley, with getting her back to training after volunteering at a water station in March 2025. (boston.com) Adam Averback, 44, of Burlington, is running with Team MGH to honor his father — who was treated for glioblastoma at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2019 and died in 2020 — and to mark his own recovery from testicular cancer diagnosed in 2021. (boston.com) Averback’s Boston.com profile also notes he was hospitalized with a serious blood infection after his Team MGH acceptance, recovered, and used incremental training — starting with ten minutes around the block — to build back to marathon distance. (boston.com) The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation organized an Adaptive Athlete Brunch and a 20-mile training run on the Boston course that drew roughly 300–350 adaptive athletes, many flown in from across the country, to practice hills and pacing about a month before race day. (boston25news.com) The Boston Athletic Association has set the 130th Boston Marathon for Patriots’ Day, Monday April 20, 2026, and recently released bib, corral and a new six-wave start assignment as part of final race-day logistics for runners and adaptive participants. (baa.org)
