Alex Danahy poses in front of a poster at the Hopkinton Public Library recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Boston Marathon’s wheelchair division. PHOTO/JERRY SPAR
Alex Danahy has never been one to seek the spotlight. But the 34-year-old has become more comfortable with moving forward as the leader of the volunteers for the Boston Marathon’s adaptive athlete divisions as 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the wheelchair division.
“I prefer to be the background character,” he said in a recent interview with the Independent. “But it’s also a good thing to get out of a comfort zone.”
He casually mentioned that he was featured on WCVB-TV in February because of his team leadership at this internationally renowned race.
Danahy was born with spina bifida, a condition that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly. He explained he has scoliosis and kyphosis, which curved his spine into an ‘S.’
Marathon memories inspire volunteerism
For most of his life, Danahy has used a wheelchair. He has lived close to the marathon’s starting line his entire life, watching it either from home or as a volunteer. His mother, Dale, ran it four times on behalf of the Michael Lisnow Respite Center, a local nonprofit for people with disabilities.
His hometown knowledge and prior race experience gave Danahy a unique perspective on the needs of adaptive athletes, making him an ideal team captain for the volunteers who oversee their needs.
In his youth, Danahy competed in 5K races using a handcycle that was made by and given to him by Bob Hall. In 1975, Hall was the first officially recognized participant to compete in a major marathon in a wheelchair, finishing the Boston Marathon in a time of 2 hours, 58 minutes.
Danahy painted the wheelchair black and blue, dubbing it “The Bruise.”
Explained Danahy: “I called it ‘The Bruise’ because, as reckless as I was as a preteen, I knew that I was going to do something stupid with it. I wish I had that to this day.”
After the television interview, Hall tracked down Danahy to let him know he would be at the race this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his trailblazing marathon finish.
“I hadn’t seen him since I was 17, so I thought it was really cool that he reached out to me,” said Danahy.
Danahy confessed that this was when he started volunteering at the Boston Marathon, even though the official age for volunteers is 18.
“I started back when there was literally strictly the wheelchair division,” he explained. “I remember back when racing using a wheelchair was contentious. When I started, there were only 20-25 wheelchairs in the division. The Hoyts were the only duo team.”
Rick and Dick Hoyt, like Hall, are Boston Marathon icons. The duo completed 32 Boston Marathons together, with Dick pushing his son, who had cerebral palsy. They inspired runners and athletes with disabilities with their tenacity. There is a statue of the duo in front of Center School.
This year, Danahy said there are at least 53 participants who use wheelchairs. There are also participants with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities.
After Danahy graduated from Hopkinton High School, he became the team captain for the adaptive athlete division.
“I was in panic mode,” he explained. “I needed to get the volunteers and do it all.”
Resident Alex Danahy, shown in front of “The Starter” statue of George Brown at Hopkinton’s Town Common, is in charge of the volunteers for the adaptive athletes in the Boston Marathon. PHOTO/JERRY SPAR
Growth as leader, advocate
“After all these years of doing this, I am finally settling into this as my show to run,” said Danahy, a 2013 Curry College graduate — he earned a communications degree with a concentration in sports broadcasting.
Said Danahy: “My biggest struggle and yet prideful moment is finding those volunteers that are good matches.”
Over the course of his leadership, he has amassed a loyal crew of volunteers. He assigns them to assist the various divisions of adaptive athletes. Danahy also oversees volunteer trainees. On Marathon Monday, he directs the para athletes to their tents and refreshments, making sure they stay warm and hydrated.
“I finally started taking a little bit of stress off myself and started empowering others,” he said, “letting other people lead the groups at the different locations.”
A self-described “control freak,” Danahy said his experience has led him to delegate some tasks.
He added: “It’s kind of contradicting, to a point. I think I finally found my balance.”
One task Danahy personally oversees during the weekend before the race is to sit in the middle of each tent to make sure the floor is level for the para athletes.
“One year we were chasing chairs out of the tent,” he explained. “I had to have a volunteer stationed to catch them. They didn’t think of that. I said, ‘That’s why I’m here. Gravity works differently when you’re standing compared to wheeling.’ ”
“The BAA [Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the race] has been very good about things like that,” added Danahy. “They know how to treat disabled people like athletes, and equal human beings at that.”
As adaptive athlete participation grows, Danahy hopes more space is allocated for the athletes, their chairs and their assistants. He also would like to see more duos and handcyclists compete.
In 2018, Danahy began volunteering with the Spina Bifida Association of Greater New England (SPAGNE), mentoring teens He was approached for this role by SPAGNE’s executive director, Jean Driscoll, an eight-time Boston Marathon wheelchair division champion who has spina bifida.
Said Danahy: “I quite literally laughed in her face and said, ‘I’m the last person you want mentoring impressionable kids.’ ”
Now he is a SPAGNE board member and secretary. Three of his volunteers are SPAGNE members. The nonprofit received a marathon bib for the second consecutive year.
“Some of us are capable, but we’re also limited,” Danahy said. “ I have to make sure that the people around me don’t overexert themselves.”
After having worked at the Michael Lisnow Respite Center, Danahy understands the usefulness of support and camaraderie in a way he didn’t grasp as a youth.
“As a kid, I was never comfortable in my own skin,” he explained. “If you put me in a group of other people with disabilities, I’d be even more uncomfortable. Now I feel I can finally be comfortable enough in myself to be able to give back to the disabled community.”
Danahy also serves as the vice chair of Hopkinton’s Commission on Disability. His mother was involved in the previous iteration of this group, which disbanded several years ago. He has been advocating for accessibility, particularly at town buildings.
“What we hear the most in the disabled community is excuses. We don’t hear reasons nearly as much,” he stressed. “It bothers the hell out of me. People don’t understand that it’s the little things. But there’s so many little things that they add up.”
Added Danahy: “The world is slowly catching up, but I still think it has a long way to go.”
Alex, your commitment to helping those with challenges most don’t fully understand is an incredible thing to do.
Thank you for the out of the box effort you put in to making this world a better place for so many people.
It makes me so proud to share this and say” HEY! That’s my Godson”