Inside the program giving Boston residents more access to the Boston Marathon

Running became a way of life for Akeem Lloyd in high school, but he had never dreamed of running the Boston Marathon while growing up in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Llyod was more focused on being a basketball player at the time. His introduction to running came when a friend had asked him to try out for the cross-country team. He showed up in full basketball gear wearing shorts, sneakers, and a headband.

“I remember the coach looked at me and asked ‘are you sure you’re at the right practice?’” Lloyd said. “I thought that was funny. I said yes. He showed me the course and the competitor in me ran that course, raced against my teammates, and I came in first. At that time, my coach said to me ‘if you stick with me, I’ll help get you into college.’”

The coach made good on his promise. Lloyd ran collegiately at Rutgers University-Camden and became the first person in his immediate family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Then he got a master’s degree from Temple University.

Knee pain stopped Lloyd from running for more than a decade after his college career. Eventually, he picked up yoga and was able to rehab his injuries. He started running again, and when he moved to Boston last summer, he reached out to a friend who put him in touch with the local chapter of a running club called Black Men Run.

On Monday, Lloyd will be one of 30 runners running the Boston Marathon through the Boston’s Marathoners program, which is aimed at building a diverse Boston running community.

The program brings together runners from diverse backgrounds from all over the city and works with clubs such as Black Men Run, Pioneers Run Crew, TrailblazHers Run Crew among others.

“One of the things we had talked about as a collaborative even before we officially became the Boston Running Collaborative is that there’s not a lot of diverse representation in marathoning,” BAA director of community engagement Suzanne Walmsley said. “That’s globally. When you look at the statistics of who is running marathons, it’s just not a very diverse crowd. We really wanted to identify why that is. Why aren’t people running?”

“So, basically, there were a number of barriers to entry that were identified by the group and to those we looked at the marathon and thought that this is something that we could assist with.”

One of the two main issues that stood out to the group was a lack of representation and visibility in the sport amongst diverse communities.

“Prior to Black Men Run, I never saw myself running a marathon,” said Lloyd, who started a non-profit called “A Leadership Journey” aimed at providing access to travel to teens from diverse backgrounds. “I never thought about running a marathon. Even in the beginning stages of me just trying to get my life back and heal my body, I was focused on doing just that … now I have an opportunity to be a part of this historic race and share with my students and the young people that I serve.”

The other issue is access. The Boston Marathon is one of the only marathons that has a qualifying time and a fundraising requirement associated with it, Walmsley said.

Those requirements have been dropped for the participants in this program to encourage more people to participate in the race.

Nominees are selected from a pool of applicants by a committee from the Boston Running Collaborative. The program began with nine runners last year and has expanded to 30 this year.

“I’ve lived in Boston my whole life. It’s something I’ve seen year in, and year out,” said runner Douglas Alvarado. “It means the world to me. Not everyone gets to do it. I know a lot of people who would like to run the Boston Marathon, they just don’t have the chance to. An opportunity like this is one that I don’t take lightly.”

Alvarado is an East Boston native whose parents moved there from El Salvador in the early 2000’s. He ran cross country at Charlestown High and Bridgewater State. He is currently a student at Boston University pursuing a master’s degree in biotechnology with dreams of attending medical school after graduation.

The biggest reason he wants to become a doctor, he said, is to become the representation that he doesn’t see in the medical field. He wants to serve his local community and inspire other people of Hispanic descent to pursue careers in medicine.

He said the physical discipline of running has helped him develop the resilience to chase his dreams.

“I think running is pretty unique. It really is like life,” Alverado said. “You have to be disciplined to make progress. You have to be willing to go through pain and suffering to win your race and compete. More than anything, you have to be resilient no matter what background you’re from.”

According to TrailblazHers Run Co., one of the local Black-led running groups, there is still work to be done on making the race more inclusive. On Friday, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the group against both the BAA and the Newton Police, alleging racial profiling during the 2023 race.

The alleged discrimination stems from police interaction with members of the group who were cheering on other runners. One member of the Pioneers Run Crew said members were occasionally jumping onto the course to cheer. It is a race policy that spectators not enter the course.

Liz Rock, a co-founder of TrailblazHers, said in a statement that she is “deeply disappointed by the lack of attention that the BAA has given to our cause. Over the years we have worked tirelessly to make running more accessible to BIPOC runners in Boston, and we expected the BAA to be a partner in this endeavor. However, their actions have not lived up to their words.”

In their own statement responding to the lawsuit, a BAA spokesperson said, “We are focused on creating a joyous experience for all. While the B.A.A. is aware of the complaint, we have not yet had the opportunity to review it.”

Running the Boston Marathon is a feeling that more Bostonians should have the opportunity to experience, Walmsley said.

“When people set the marathon as a goal for themselves and they complete it, there’s just such a sense of accomplishment that comes with that,” Walmsley said. “It just carries over into other things in their lives. I’ve seen it over the years, and I know from myself from running that once you tackle something like that everything seems possible.”

“We really want to give that opportunity to as many people as possible,” she added. “So, if there are ways we can address some of the things that are preventing people from accessing this then we definitely want to do that.”