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St. John's Prep football manager running Boston Marathon for his sister

Salem News - 10/5/2021

Oct. 5—St. John's Prep football manager Conor Beswick is running his first marathon on Monday when he participates in the 125th Boston Marathon, and the 18-year-old senior will do so for a very worth cause that's near and dear to him.

Beswick's younger sister, 15-year-old Kerry, attends Nashoba Learning Group for autistic children and adults near the family's Andover home. He received one of the four bibs that NLG got for this month's marathon and has been both fundraising and training diligently to get ready for his first long race.

"I've been doing road races, mostly local 5K's with my dad (Neal) since I was 10," said Beswick. "During Covid-19 I started going longer distances and ran an unofficial half-marathon. When I started training for Boston at the start of the summer, I knew a marathon was attainable if I worked hard. I've come full circle from short races to a marathon."

Nashoba Learning Group is dedicated to improving the lives of autistic children through individual instruction to help them reach their potential.

"Nashoba has a great program, and I'm so happy to have one of the bibs," Beswick said. "A mother of one of the students was running, but is now injured. Another went to a family friend, and faculty member Rebecca Raymond of Salem has one.

"Rebecca and I did a training session together that was run by Heartbreak Hill Running Company; we ran from Hopkinton to the half way point in Wellesley. We didn't do Heartbreak Hill, which is a few miles after Wellesley, but I did attend another training run from Newton to Natick and back. I feel much more comfortable now after being on the actual course.

"For the most part, I've been training and fundraising on my own," he added.

Beswick has been putting in 60-to-70 miles a week to get ready, but now that the time draws near he's scaled down to a 2-to-4-mile run each day.

"My dad rides his bike behind me when i do my long runs," said Beswick. "It's good company, but I also think he does it to push me to run faster."

Beswick was on the varsity football squad at St. John's Prep as a sophomore and junior, but couldn't make a commitment this fall because of his marathon plans.

"I couldn't do both," he said. "The team, coaching staff and especially (head coach) Brian St. Pierre have been very supportive. Some of my best friends are on that team, and I wanted to still be a part of it (as team manager)."

He went out for the Eagles' rugby team last year, but broke his pinky and was in a cast up to his wrist. He hopes to return this coming spring.

Beswick is also a serious fencer who developed a love for the sport at Tanner City in Peabody under coach Molly Sliney. He has been on the Prep's fencing team since his freshman year and was a member of the school's first middle school class.

"Molly is a great coach. She helped me be more disciplined in not only fencing, but also my studies," he said. "When we first went to the club, my father was impressed with how helpful and well spoken some of the high school boys were. When he found out they were St. John's Prep kids, he went home and told my mother that's where I was going. We toured the new middle school even though it wasn't finished yet, but I loved the campus.

"St. John's has been very good for me."

Beswick is also a very good student with a 3.8 average. He has applied to Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. as well as St. Anselm, Boston College, and Siena College.

"Coast Guard is right up there at the top of my list," said Beswick, who would like to major in political science or government, perhaps going to law school after earning his undergraduate degree. "I want to serve my country in some way. Siena is in New York near where my grandparents live, which is nice. I'm contemplating playing sports, but academics come first."

He hopes the day of the marathon will be overcast and around 60 degrees, but no matter if it's warmer or colder he said he'll be ready for it.

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