You know how at sporting events–especially here in military-friendly North Carolina–it’s become a standard thing to do one of those “surprise the family member with the solider who is home from overseas” set-ups? And you know how when you see it happening, you realize what it is, and immediately know how it’s going to end? And you know how it’s STILL awesome, every time, and you end up crying, every time, because it NEVER stops being cool I mean I could just watch these freaking videos all day.
The same is true with videos of running competitors helping each other finish races. It’s happened before and it will happen again: sometimes runners hit “the wall” and become so cramped up they can’t even get off the ground. Other times it’s a pulled hamstring or quad that incapacitates them. Whatever the cause, the knots you get in your stomach watching these runners fail to stand, sometimes even crawling towards the finish line, can only be relieved by the thrill and reaffirmation in humanity you get seeing runners from other teams sacrifice their time and position to aid the injured athlete.
This, courtesy of the ACC Digital Network, occurred Friday during the ACC Women’s Cross Country championship at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
Hats off to Clemson’s Evie Tate and Louisville’s Rachel Pease for their efforts assisting Boston College’s Madeline Adams across the finish line.
