Baseball legend Cal Ripkin, Jr. once said, “Sometimes I think sportsmanship is a little bit forgotten in place of the individual attention.” Well, it appears that runner, Matthew Rees – a competitor for the Swansea Harriers running club – got the message and decided to be the start of change.
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Source: Zockerfreak
Exhausted London Marathon runner, David Wyeth of Chorlton Runners, would have had to forfeit a mere 150 meters from the finish line had not Rees stepped up to help him out. Sacrificing his own personal record, Rees turned around to lend a shoulder to the struggling runner. And then, in an unbelievable display of sportsmanship, continued to help him the rest of the way over the finish line.
John Wooden, former famous basketball player and head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles, once said, “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Again, it seems as if Rees took lessons from a playbook in sportsmanship, as his character is what has gained him worldwide attention, and not his reputation as a runner.
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Source: Zockerfreak
Rees did a remarkable thing by helping Wyeth out. At 26.219 miles, he ran quite a distance only to give up his personal record 150 meters from the finish line. Many may wonder why he did it. Here’s what he had to say:
“I took the final corner thinking ‘right, it’s nearly done, time to sprint,’ and I saw this guy and his legs just crumbled below him.
“I saw him try to stand up again and his legs just went down again, and I thought ‘this is more important, getting him across the line is more important than shaving a few seconds off my time.'”
Rees later tells the press that when he went over to try and help him, he just kept falling down again and again. That’s when he picked him up and said: “Come on, we can do this.”
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Source: Zockerfreak
According to Rees, Wyeth just kept muttering, “I have to finish, I have to finish.” And because Rees had the same thoughts running through his head the whole race, he knew the feeling all too well. He too just wanted to finish the race. He told Wyeth, “you will finish, you will get there, come on let’s do this,” and because he couldn’t walk himself, he guided him the rest of the way.
Rees suffered leg cramps throughout the entire race, so when he saw Wyeth collapse, he was able to relate. “I wanted just to get to finishing line and that’s all he wanted – so we could just do it together.”
People across the Internet applaud Rees and his selflessness at the end of the race.
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Source: The Telegraph
Even the London Marathon itself had something to say about Rees’s actions: “Matthew Rees, of @SwanHarrierDev, you’ve just encompassed everything that’s so special about the #LondonMarathon. We salute you. “
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Source: The Telegraph
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Source: The Telegraph
“This is what the marathon is about – it’s about people – it’s for everyone,” Rees later said.
“Moments like this make it worth it. “
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Source: Zockerfreak
