By Maddie Sattler, News Staff
The Boston Marathon is one of the most famous races in the world, but that’s not just because of its storied history. The 116-year-old race has a reputation for being lenient in allowing many to bandit-run the course without an official race number.
This year, six Northeastern students will don hamburger suits and bandit-run the marathon as part of the B. Good Burger Brigade, an organization that races money for local charities and features the Boston marathon as its central component.
“Through different athletic events and music events, the organization raises funds and then issues them as grants to people who apply for the funds,” middler health science major and Brigade member Lindsay Weigal said. “They issue the grants on Marathon Monday, so in celebration, all of the runners of the Burger Brigade go out and run the 26.2 in the burger suits.”
The Burger Brigade started four years ago when some B. Good employees decided that running the marathon in burger suits would be a great way to raise money for charities they were passionate about.
And they’re not the only ones – in the past four years, more than 40 running burgers have worn a burger suit and raised over $60,000 for the B. Good Family Foundation.
After seeing the previous successes among charity runs, B. Good decided this year to start its own charity. According to the restaurant’s website, the new foundation is “designed so that the people who raise the money decide who gets the money.”
B. Good, which prides itself on food made by people, not factories, has a location right off the Marathon route by the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street and four other locations throughout Boston.
This year’s Burger Brigade includes 13 runners – six Northeastern students, two from Berklee and five community members.
The group accepts donations from family members and friends. But they also have charity events at local bars, restaurants and music venues to acquire even more money.
“So far the group has raised almost $7,000,” Weigal said. “Most of the fundraising doesn’t come from individual emails, it comes from going out and doing fun runs in the community, getting donations from people who know what the Boston Marathon is and want to support B. Good.”
One weekly event in particular is the Saturday fun runs. The group heads out to the Copley Square area wearing the Burger suits. They do stretching circles and push-up contests to get attention, then explain the cause and get donations.
Because the organization is still new, it’s important to get the name out there and explain to the community what exactly they Burger Brigade is, Weigal said.
The Burger Brigade will be starting the marathon around noon and all 13 plan on finishing in under four hours. So if you see some burgers on Marathon Monday, don’t be surprised.
“Keep an eye out for us,” Weigal said. “And join us next time because it’s a pretty fun experience that you probably won’t be able to get outside of college.”
