Reading Resident Helps Organize Event Honoring Late Marathon Dog

READING, MA — The 17 Reading residents who completed Monday's Boston Marathon were not the only locals who played a part in the marathon festivities this year.

On Sunday, a group called MA Golden Meetups, which was co-founded by Reading's Colette Yeung, organized the Golden Strong Marathon Walk in memory of Spencer, the official Boston Marathon dog who passed away in February after a battle with cancer.

MA Golden Meetups is a community of golden retrievers and their humans who gather for hikes and other events.

At Sunday's event, 150 to 200 golden retrievers and their owners met on Boston Common, before a portion of the group walked 1 mile down Commonwealth Avenue to the marathon finish line on Boylston Street.

Golden Meetups sold "Golden Strong" bandanas at the event, raising $1,200 to benefit the Spencer & Penny Fund to research canine cancer.

Penny was Spencer's golden retriever companion and both worked as therapy dogs. Penny died about a month after Spencer after veterinarians discovered that Penny had a tumor on her spleen that was bleeding internally.

Michele Selin, co-lead of MA Golden Meetups, said Yeung has played a major role in the organization's success. Selin said Yeung also was instrumental in organizing Sunday's Golden Strong Marathon Walk, communicating details via social media, emailing attendees, developing the concept for the bandanas and taking bandana orders.

"(Yeung) is the backbone of the MA Golden Meetups and often the 'voice' that our followers hear in replies to inquiries on our events or comments," Selin told Patch. "She was the reason I decided to become part of the coordinator team."

Selin continued: "For the MA Golden Marathon Meetup on Sunday, (Yeung's) passion for all of the dogs and owners came through behind the scenes making sure our volunteers were equipped, the guests were welcomed and the photographers were able to get those amazing shots of the goldens on the hill of Boston Common. We would never have been able to make our event as successful without Colette."