BOSTON–Hansom FCU will have a number of representatives participating in today’s Boston Marathon and raising funds for charities.
Ray Phillips, a HFCU board member, will be competing in his 19th Boston Marathon, but it will be his first race in the race’s 70-plus age division.
“For someone who thought his first run at Boston would be a one-time thing in 2000, Ray’s come a long way,” the credit union said. “One reason he’s been coming back year after year started with a little boy named Andy Martin, Jr., his four-year-old Patient Partner from Boston Children’s Hospital, who shyly asked him during a race kickoff event, ‘Ray, are you running the Boston Marathon for me?’”
Since being asked that question, Phillips has run 107 marathons. Last year he hit his 100th and planned it so it would be in Boston.
“Today, Ray and Andy both race on this traditional Patriots’ Day event – Ray as a runner in his age division, and Andy in the wheelchair division,” Hanscom FCU said. “Together, this unstoppable pair has helped raise over $500,000 for Boston Children’s Hospital, where 100% of the funds raised this year will be donated to several pediatric brain research projects.”
“Ray Phillips is a master marathoner who has already done so much to help our credit union help children who are battling some rare and difficult-to-treat brain diseases,” said Hanscom FCU’s Chairman of the Board Paul Marotta. “At an age where a lot of people tend to go easier on their bodies, he’s challenging himself to a race that would be tough on anyone half his age. We’re in awe of his persistence and dedication.”
Martin will be returning to the Boston Marathon for the fourth time as a wheelchair entrant for Team Hanscom FCU. After joining the team as a four-year-old patient partner, this year, the 22-year-old continues to fulfill his longtime dream of competing as an athlete, Hanscom FCU said.
“Back in 2000, Andy – who was being treated for spina bifida – was paired as a Patient Partner with Ray Phillips. As he watched the wheelchair racers fly by him from the sidelines, Andy decided that he wanted to race, too,” the credit union said. “He was disappointed to learn he’d have to be 18, but he cheerfully announced the delay would give him more time to train. Flash forward 14 years later when this Goffstown, N.H., resident fulfilled that childhood goal when he entered the wheelchair division of the 2014 Boston Marathon.”
One Staffer Running First Marathon
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Kistoglou, the assistant branch manager of Hanscom FCU’s Billerica branch, will be running her first marathon at the Boston Marathon. Kistoglou will participate as a Hanscom FCU charity runner with the Credit Unions Kids at Heart program. The program raises money to support research at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) for pediatric neurological diseases.
Kistoglou, who has been a Hanscom FCU employee for four and a half years, had been thinking about running a marathon for a long time, the credit union reported, and when she found out that the Credit Unions Kids at Heart donations would be used to research Moyamoya disease, a condition affecting two members of her family, she was ‘all in’ and committed to Team Hanscom FCU’s 2016 push at the Boston Marathon.”
“The fact that we raise money specifically for one of the diseases that touches my family has been really encouraging through my training,” she said.
Credit Unions Kids at Heart charity runners each run with a Patient Partner from BCH, and this year Kistoglou will be running for Timmy, who has cerebral palsy.
“Patient Partners are the happiest children I’ve ever met in my life,” said Kistoglou. “The people who have the most to be upset about are some of the happiest, most giving people I’ve ever met.”
Kistoglou, who lives in Nashua, N.H., and is a student at Southern New Hampshire University, has been training since the first week of December 2017. While some of her practice runs have been rough, she is committed to making it to the finish line, the credit union said.
“When you push your body beyond what you think you can do and then you get there…it’s an amazing feeling. I’m looking forward to that feeling,” stated Kistoglou.
The $1.2-billion Hanscom Federal Credit Union, headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, serves over 81,000 members across the country and overseas.