New York Times - Lost Notes Will Linger as Footsteps Fall

There was a death in the family. The family is huge, extending wherever French and English are sung. Many of us are not related at all, but consider ourselves honorary fifth cousins or some such, by virtue of loving their music. Now a close friend of that family is running in the New York City Marathon, to honor Kate McGarrigle, whose own race ended Jan. 18 at age 63.

Kate and her sister Anna were the McGarrigles, the quirky and talented duo — with a megafamily behind them — who reminded the world there is such a thing as French-Canadian-Irish soul. All runners in the marathon have a story, a reason, a motivation, a cause, or else they would not be putting one foot after another for hours, some of them torturous.

Toby Harper-Merrett, not an elite runner, will be wearing Bib No. 25116 and a T-shirt for the McGill University Health Centre Foundation and the Kate McGarrigle Fund, honoring the singer, who died of a rare form of cancer, clear-cell sarcoma.