BOSTON — Aaron Beggs and Robson De Olivera helped carry fellow runner Ajay Haridasse across the finish line of the Boston Marathon after Haridasse collapsed about 1,000 feet (305 meters) from the finish. Spectators filmed the incident from multiple angles and posted it on social media, with one post on X viewed more than two million times.

The two runners paused their races, sacrificing their personal best times, to assist the exhausted competitor. Medical staff provided prompt treatment to the runners at the finish line.

"I looked at my watch, and I looked at him again, and the natural instinct was just to go and pick him up," Beggs said. "It's fight or flight, and I decided to fight and help him get to our destination."

Beggs, who is from Northern Ireland and a member of North Down Athletic Club, recalled seeing the Brownlee brothers help each other over the finish line in the Triathlon World Series in 2016. He described the camaraderie among the three runners during the final stretch. "We were shaking hands as we were running, and was like, 'We've got this. Let's do this together'. It's not like in shorter races where you're head-to-head trying to beat people. In the marathon, you're cheering each other on and encouraging everybody," he said. "If I had to go farther, I would have."

Haridasse, a Massachusetts native and a student at Northeastern University, described his condition before the two runners reached him. "After falling down the fourth time, I was getting ready to crawl," Haridasse said.

De Olivera is from Brazil. Their finishing time qualified them for next year's race. Beggs said he has been in touch with Haridasse since the marathon and hopes to reconnect with De Olivera. He plans to run the Belfast Marathon at the beginning of May.

"Three strangers, three different countries, and we'll have a story for the rest of our lives. We all need just a nice story in our lives, just to make us smile, bring a tear to your eye with happiness. And it's nice to be nice," Beggs said. "I have a great sense of achievement to complete a world major and also help others along the way."