Five Tuscaloosa County residents finish Boston Marathon

Out of the six Tuscaloosa County residents that were registered for the Boston Marathon, five crossed the finish line of the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon on Monday.

William McGee, 38, of Northport was the first county runner to cross the finish line, covering the distance in 2 hours, 38 minutes and 44 seconds. He finished 371 overall and was the second-fastest runner from Alabama.

For McGee, a former track and field runner at Auburn University, it was not his first marathon, but it was his first time getting to run the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon course, starting in Hopkinton and ending near Copley Square in Boston. McGee qualified for the Boston Marathon in December 2023 at the California International Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 33 minutes and 58 seconds.

"The only way to run it is to qualify, so for a lot of folks it is a real accomplishment just to get to the starting line," McGee said. "It is also the oldest, ongoing marathon in the world ... Just the amount of tradition along the course, they have been running the same course for 128 years, so the traditions, the lure, just the history of it just make it really a special race unlike really just any other."

It was a 70-degree race day, and McGee was feeling the heat. By the time he crossed the finish line, his thoughts were focused on recovery, but were also focused on all the support he was receiving back in Tuscaloosa. The night before the race, he said, his phone was flooding with texts and messages from people within the Tuscaloosa community.

"It was a really warm day, so I was really glad to get finished," McGee said. "It was really hot out there, no cloud cover, just in the sun all day. So, the first though (when I crossed the finish line) was to get fluids in my body and get in the shade ... I just remember those final miles of the race, just thinking about all these new friends I have made over the past year that were supporting me from Tuscaloosa ... I just became very overwhelmed with gratitude."

Kathleen Callahan of Northport was the only county woman to finish and the oldest of the runners from the county at age 56. She crossed the finish line with a time of 4:04:23, while Chihiro Nakai was the second runner from the county to cross the finish line with a time of 3:18:27.

Below is a full list of how all five runners from Tuscaloosa County finished at the 2024 Boston Marathon:

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Tuscaloosa County Boston Marathon finishers

371. William McGee, Northport: 2:38:44

6,500. Chihiro Nakai, Tuscaloosa: 3:18:27

16,899. Kathleen Callahan, Northport: 4:04:23

19,231. Russ Guin, Tuscaloosa: 4:22:25

23,436. John Sanders, Tuscaloosa, 5:12:11

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama softball and football recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2