When Saskatoon runners Nicole Bletsky and Kelly Mulligan crossed the finish line together at the 2021 London Marathon, COVID-19 restrictions meant volunteers were not handing out medals. Instead, the pair draped medals around each others’ necks.
“It was quite emotional,” Mulligan recalled. “How perfect for us to do that since we’ve been on this journey together. It was very overwhelming.”
By completing London, Bletsky and Mulligan became recipients of the Six Star Medal, which was introduced in 2016 to honour runners who finish all six Abbott World Marathon Majors (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City and Tokyo).
Bletsky, Mulligan and teammate Bette Boechler had been chasing the goal since the medal was created.
All three run with Team W, a performance-based running group coached by Jason Warick, and have been running friends for nearly a decade.
When the trio learned of the medal in 2016, Bletsky and Mulligan had completed two Majors together (Boston in 2015, New York City in 2016) and Mulligan had run Chicago as her first marathon in 2007. Boechler had run the three North American Majors — some more than once.
The three travelled to Tokyo together in 2019 with another Team W teammate where Boechler, now 61, joined the Abbott World Marathon Majors Hall of Fame.
Bletsky and Mulligan —now 46 and 50 — had planned to complete their last Major at the 2020 London Marathon after they and Boechler qualified for the inaugural Abbott World Marathon Wanda Age Group World Championships happening there. But the event was postponed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic so the trio did not line up at that race until this month.
On a beautiful fall day, Bletsky and Mulligan earned their Six Star Medals just one year later than planned, joining Boechler and 293 other Canadians in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Hall of Fame.
This week, Bletsky, Mulligan and Boechler speak with the Brainsport Times about their Six Star journey.
Brainsport Times: What was the most memorable race of the six?
Nicole Bletsky: This is a really tough one as I feel each race experience has been memorable. If I had to choose I would have to say London, because it was the last of the six majors, it was also the World Championships and we trained for it three times! London as a city was obviously celebrating the marathon and they showed evidence of that with masses showing up to support the runners on the streets. It was truly an amazing experience to be part of that race.
Bette Boechler: For me it was the first time I ran Berlin in 2017. I hadn’t run a marathon in 13 years and I felt my marathoning days were behind me … and I was happy with that decision. However, in 2017 an unexpected illness in my family made me realize I needed something to focus on and get me through a challenging summer. I didn’t have the six majors as a goal, but I thought I would focus on Berlin and see what happened. Jason was a great support during that summer. Berlin went well so I thought I would try and do London and Tokyo to finish the Majors.
Kelly Mulligan: I would have to agree that London — for many, many reasons — was most memorable, and not just because it’s the most recent. The atmosphere there, the crowds. People talk about the Boston crowds, but I think the London crowds win. Now, having said that, when Nicole and I ran Boston (in 2015), the weather was absolutely terrible. There were certainly parts where it was loud and there were parts where there were lots of fans, but London was a beautiful day and, wow, the crowds were just absolutely crazy.
BT: Which was the toughest to get into?
KM: For me it’s always been London because there’s no good way to qualify. It’s the ballot entry and everything you read from people, they take five, eight, 10 tries to get in. There are tour packages or a charity, but the charity requirements (involve raising) an enormous amount of money. We were fortunate that we subsequently got into the Age Group World Championships. I thought it was a joke, honestly. Nicole sent me the email (saying she had qualified) and I think I had one in my junk folder.
BB: You texted me and I thought “World Age Group Championships? What the heck is that?”
BT: What has it meant to have running friends to train and travel to these big races with?
KM: It’s so nice to have others who appreciate what goes into training for a marathon and, not just that, but doing it at the same time and helping one another when you’re training over the summer and you’re training over the terrible winters that we have. The moral support and the understanding of others around you is huge in getting you through those training runs. And of course there’s camaraderie in just running along. Bette and I had runs where we didn’t talk at all. And that’s just fine.
NB: Having Kelly and Bette along with me for most of these races has meant a great deal to me. I feel like we are blessed to have had each other to help us through the hard times (both in training and in races). These ladies are an inspiration to me and keep me motivated to do better. Travelling together has also been great as we seem to know our strengths, preferences and weaknesses so that makes us good travel partners.
BB: This time, (travelling with friends) was really helpful (because of all the COVID-19 protocols). Kelly had a finger on the pulse in terms of everything we needed at every moment we needed it. I would have figured it out eventually, but Kelly was the document person she knew what we had to do and that was great.
BT: What’s next?
KM: I am retiring from marathon running … The first two times I’ve trained for (London), I actually counted down how many 2:45 and three-hour runs I had left. For the third time, I finally started saying, “If everything goes well, this will be my last 2:45” and “This will be my last three-hour run.” And honestly, I am done. London solidified my decision that it’s time to end the marathon running … I’ll keep running, just not marathoning … I’m pretty happy. I achieved things in my marathon running that weren’t even in my wildest imaginations. And thanks to these two ladies for dragging me along for some of it. I couldn’t have done it without all of their support. It’s been an amazing ride and I’m going to go out on a high.
BB: I honestly don’t know. I’ll run. I’ve always run. But I don’t know what the future will be.
NB: I feel like I have a few more marathons in me, though I might change my mind after the next one. I haven’t run as many marathons as Kelly and Bette have, I’ve only done seven in total, Saskatchewan was my first and then I did the six Majors, so I feel like I do have time to do a few more and I would like to improve my time. (Mulligan has run 12 marathons and Bochler has run 14).
BB: I think we’ll still keep running together, it might be different distances and it might be different venues, maybe we’ll trail run together, who knows? It’s been a great journey.
Do you know someone in Saskatchewan with an inspiring running story? Email Brainsport Times editor Andrea Hill at andrea@brainsport.ca.
