Runners remember, honor the inspiring Dick Hoyt

The Attleboro area running community is no doubt joining their counterparts across Massachusetts and New England in mourning the death on Wednesday (March 17) of Dick Hoyt, who for decades ran the Boston Marathon and hundreds of other races while pushing his quadriplegic son Rick Hoyt in customized wheelchairs. Hoyt, who had been battling health issues, died at 80, his family announced.
Hoyt died in his sleep at his Holland home, his son Russ Hoyt told the Associated Press. “He had an ongoing heart condition that he had been struggling with for years and it just got the better of him,” he said.
Dick first pushed his son Rick, who born a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and cannot walk or talk, in a 1977 5-miler. They finished their first Boston Marathon in 1981.
Over the years, they participated in more than 1,000 road races, marathons, including several in the Attleboro area.
For instance, the father-son duo had become popular fixtures in the Butterfly 5K, which had been run for many years in North Attleboro to raise money for Julia’s Garden in World War I Memorial Park through 2018. Many runners would wait around after the race to chat with Dick and offer them congratulations for their many accomplishments. The Butterfly 5K wasn’t held in 2019, nor was it held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hoyts -– who last ran the Boston Marathon the year after the 2013 bombings, in 2014, their 32^nd --- were also featured during the April 2018 exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum, “A Long Distance Relationship: The 26.2-Mile Journey.”