Mother And Son Gold Star Family Run Spartan Race At Fenway
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Reebok Spartan Race is taking place this Veterans Day weekend at Fenway Park.
"You'll see things like people jumping over walls, climbing on cargo nets, jump ropes," Spartan Race spokesperson Amelia Green-Davis said.
In the midst of these fierce competitors is a mother-and-son Gold Star Family. Tricia Simmons lost her husband, MSgt. Shawn Simmons, in Afghanistan back in 2008. Four years later, she also lost her 16-year-old daughter, Erin, in a car accident.
This weekend, her 18-year-old son Justin is competing both in his father and his sister's memory.
"Through all the trials and tribulations, we have had some awesome people in our corner to encourage us and help us," Simmons said.
Simmons is speaking specifically about Special Ops Survivors, a non-profit organization whose mission is to embrace and empower the surviving spouses of fallen special operations personal from all branches of the military.
"The Spartan Races and the Spartan organization as a whole is a wonderful pairing for us because these athletes know what it means to come up on an obstacle they think is impossible and somehow overcome that," Special Ops Survivors spokesperson Keri Klaus said.
Justin loves the challenge.
"It just means a lot that they take special consideration for fallen soldiers," he said. "They bring you in kind of like you're family and treat you like you're family. Just running in my dad's honor, it's something nice to honor him by."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karyn Regal reports
