One of two men who helped carry a fellow runner across the finish line of the Boston Marathon said he had been struggling earlier himself but drew strength from the supportive crowd.

“If I had to go farther, I would have,” Aaron Beggs said in an interview on Thursday. “It’s fight or flight, and I decided to fight and help him get to our destination.”

Beggs, of Northern Ireland, and Robson De Olivera, of Brazil, sprang into action on Monday when Ajay Haridasse collapsed about 300m from the end of the course.

Beggs also had been feeling sick and exhausted, but was reminding himself of all the people in his running club who might never get to experience such an iconic race.

“Then when I came down and up towards Boylston Street, the crowd started cheering and I just turned the corner and happened to see Ajay fall,” he said. “I looked at my watch, and I looked at him again, and the natural instinct was just to go and pick him up.”

For Beggs, the moment capped what already had been an incredible experience, from being cheered on by local college students to chatting with a fellow runner wearing his father’s name on his shirt just to hear onlookers call it out.