Boston Marathon Explosions: Oak Park, River Forest Runners Registered for the Race

Update 5:40 p.m.

Twenty Oak Park residents and three from River Forest were were registered to run theBoston Marathon, which was abruptly halted by multiple explosions Monday near the finish line.

Two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon had people carrying bloody spectators into the medical tent set up for runners, according to a report on Back Bay Patch. 

Boston Police are reporting at least 23 injured and two dead. 

"It was the loudest thing I've ever heard it stopped us in our tracks," said Marathon spectator Jennifer Curro.  

NBC News reported fire engines, police and emergency medical personnel were headed to the scene. An affiliate reporter told NBC News she heard two loud explosions, and that "everybody kind of ducked and hit the ground," and Jackie Bruno, reporter for New England Cable News said she saw people with significant injuries, including one person with a leg blown off.

"Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror," Bruno said.  

Patch is following this breaking story.

The Boston Athletic Association website lists the following area entrants:

• Geri Bensen (Oak Park)
• Sarah Buerger (Oak Park)
• John Connelly (River Forest)
• Paul Courtois (Oak Park)
• Roni Deitz (Oak Park)
• Jason Dement (Oak Park)
• Kristin Dement (Oak Park)
• Hugh Flannery (River Forest)
• Kim Henry (River Forest)
• Jd Leman (Oak Park)
• Carolyn Lundgren (Oak Park)
• Kenneth Mays (Oak Park)
• Aaron Merriweather (Oak Park)
• Amy Moroney (Oak Park)
• Mike Nash (Oak Park)
• Helen Nuttall (Oak Park)
• Jeremy Pennington (Oak Park)
• Maricruz Ponce de Leon (Oak Park)
• Matt Sullivan (Oak Park)
• Douglas Walder (Oak Park)
• Christopher Weber (Oak Park)
• Greg Wolski (Oak Park)
• Jeffrey Zawacki (Oak Park)

Ten of the local runners are currently listed without a finish time on the BAA site as of about 3 p.m. If you're searching for someone, the Red Cross has a Safe and Well website updated with people who have checked in as "safe." 

Google.org also set up a Person Finder for the Boston Marathon. According to the Person Finder, the only people listed as "safe" from Oak Park are Sarah Bueger and Roni Deitz. No one has submitted reports yet for the other people. 

Patch reader Paula O'Connor sent an email saying Paul Courtois and Christopher Weber are safe, and that Helen Nuttall was not at the race. John Connelly of River Forest has also been reported safe.

Oak Park resident Peter Sagal, a host of NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! tweeted that he crossed the finish line just five minutes before the explosions and that he is safe. He was in Boston to guide a blind runner along the marathon. 

Michael Nash, who is listed on Facebook as a member of the Oak Park Runners Club, was in Boston and shared a status to let people know he is safe.

"I'm (safe)," he wrote on his Facebook wall. "We're trying to get out of Boston now. It's crazy! God bless the people who were hurt!"

Do you know one of these runners? Update us with their status by emailing michael.sewall@patch.com.

—Patch editors Liz Taurasi and Janine Anderson contributed to this report.