Firefighter Ethan Woodhead is one of the island’s leading triathletes and marathon runners. Like many of the island’s best distance runners, he looks to take part in races all over the world.
He signed up for last weekend’s Chicago Marathon months ago – but he never thought how it might turn out.
‘I planned to do Chicago about a year ago, fully knowing that I was going to have no support here, which was fine because I’ve done plenty of races this season with huge amounts of support,’ he said.
But after his uncle Phil Woodhead took to social media to try and rally some in-person cheers through a Facebook group dedicated to the event, Mr Woodhead found he was far from alone for the race – instead he became something of a celebrity.
‘I didn’t see the initial Facebook post until about 10 hours later once I started getting floods of messages saying: “We’ve seen your uncle’s post.
‘We wish you luck, we’ve made some posters for you, and we’re going to try see you at certain points of the course.” At that point I was pretty overwhelmed and a bit shocked. I didn’t really know what to expect,’ he said.
Chicago estate agent Megan Arseneau Schutzbach was one of those who shared the appeal.
‘I just read something that genuinely brought tears to my eyes,’ she said. ‘Strangers reposting this request to show up for Ethan.’
She decided that if she could ‘get one more person to cheer on Ethan’, it was worth putting out on her Instagram page.
‘This is what community is all about. It’s showing up for people just because you can.’
Although his uncle’s post had received thousands of interactions, the full force of its effect did not truly hit Mr Woodhead until he was actually running the next day.
‘I was probably a kilometre in, and I heard some people shouting from the road. I was thinking, oh, I actually do have some people around the course? But I didn’t think too much. I didn’t think it was going to be constant. I thought maybe I would have the odd couple here and there, but it was all the way around the course. And it wasn’t one every mile.
‘It was just here, there, everywhere. It was really something special.’
That support involved shouts of encouragement, people screaming his name while cheering and dancing as he ran past, as well as a whole host of home-made banners, some of which included the Guernsey flag. He even found the support greet him at the finish line, where a group of people met him to pop golden confetti over him in celebration.
‘It was really magical. I just I did not expect any of this before I come out here. I’ve left the happiest guy. Really, you can’t write it.’
He also credited the unexpected support in helping him to complete the course in an impressive two hours and 31 minutes.
‘It definitely carried me along the whole way,’ he said.
‘Every time I saw a sign or heard people cheering, it really picked me up, and it did drag me around the whole course. It flew by.’
After dusting off the confetti, Mr Woodhead’s first port of call was to phone his uncle to tell him all that had happened.
‘As soon as I finished, I went straight to bag collection, got my phone and rang him because I was in awe of the whole thing. I was speechless, and I had to speak to him about it and let him know what went on.’
‘It didn’t cost anyone anything,’ said his uncle Phil.
‘It was just pure love, pure wanting to do something nice for someone else, and that’s what I take from it. I just think how wonderful is that?’
Mr Woodhead’s bemusement about the nature of his trip was then multiplied by a wave of viral attention after the race, as social media posts sharing his experiences spread online. He featured on the television news in the city.
‘Ethan came here to run a race, but it’s the kindness he found along the route that will stick with him far beyond the finish line,’ said NBC Chicago reporter Lexi Sutter.
‘The viral response has honestly been crazy,’ said Mr Woodhead. ‘The fact that NBC Chicago got in touch with me, a couple other promotion companies got in touch. It’s it’s really blown out of proportion. I did not know that any of this could happen, let alone would happen.
‘But I’m so grateful for Chicago. I can’t thank the people enough. It’s very overwhelming, but I’m just so grateful,’ he said.
Mr Woodhead is due to return to Guernsey later this week, and is looking forward to a well-earned rest once back. However, his mind is also firmly set on the events he has lined up for the coming race season.
‘I need a couple weeks off and then I’ll hit the winter training block hard,’ he said. ‘I’ve got the Ironman 70.3 World Championship next year in Tennessee. And then I’ve also got a full Ironman and a couple of other races in the season. But the main one will be the Ironman World Champs at 70.3 in August.’
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