3 NH Special Olympians running in Boston Marathon

The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester

Apr. 12—Special Olympics New Hampshire athletes Liam McNeil, Brian Allard and Thomas Cantara will run the Boston Marathon on Monday.

This will be the first Boston Marathon for both McNeil, a captain for the Alvirne High School track team, and Allard, the assistant director of the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's Office.

Cantara, a Nashua resident, will run in his sixth Boston Marathon on Monday.

McNeil, who has only ever run half-marathons, and Allard, an avid runner for 20 years, have spent the past 19 weeks training together for the race. Their goal is to finish the race in under four hours.

Cantara finished last year's race in 2 minutes, 38.25 seconds and is hoping to finish in under 2:30 this time. Cantara set a personal-best marathon time in September, when he finished the Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene in 2:32.5.

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