WASHINGTON-In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, organizers of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run say there will likely be security changes at the 2014 event, although it will most likely not be noticeable.
"A lot of what is likely to be done may be entirely invisible even to me," said Phil Stewart, event director for the CU-sponsored race. "That's the nature of security-they don't want to talk about it, they just go out and do it. I don't get detailed briefings on what is being done as far as the security of the race, but I know it's being done."
Stewart noted that future races may see more bomb-sniffing dogs on-site, but he declined to speculate on any other potential security changes. He said he does not expect any changes to crowd control or the number of runners allowed to participate.
"The other component is that it makes the runners more vigilant as well," said Stewart. "I would agree with the sentiments that have been expressed that the more sets of eyes you can have around the race site looking for something that looks suspicious, then that's a positive reaction," he said.
Much Security Already In Place
Despite the likelihood of increased security at the 2014 event, Stewart noted that the Washington Monument grounds are "a pretty iconic staging area...but there are a lot of high visibility events that take place on the monument grounds, so I'm guessing that there are already more security measures in place than I'm aware of."
Planning for the 2014 race won't really get under way until after Labor Day, but Juri Valdov, chairman of race sponsor CU Miracle Day, pointed out that credit unions became the title sponsor shortly after 9/11, "so there were questions at that time about security and whether events like this should take place."
Valdov said that the race's mission remains the same, despite the 12 years between two terrorist attacks. "We felt that our cause, whether it was then or now, is still the cause that we've had before: raising money for children's hospitals. Ironically, the Boston Children's Hospital, which took care of some fo the younger patients in Boston, is one of those Children's Miracle Network hospitals which we support."
Editor's Note: The Massachusettes CU League last week said it as recommending the One Fund-Boston as the best place to make donations to help the victims of the bombing. For more information: www.onefundboston.org.
