Bill Iffrig was the 78-year-old man in the orange tank-top who was knocked down by the force of what he called a "deafening" explosion approximately 15 feet from the finish line at today's Boston Marathon.


He said once he felt the shockwaves of the blast, his legs turned to "noodles" and he knew he was going down. Though he said he never lost consciousness, he mentioned he "woke up" a little later, noticed what he thought was a piece of the bomb near him, got up and finished with some assistance.

This was his third time at the Boston Marathon. Last year the weather was so hot he "had a really bad day" but this year he was having a really good day until the very end, which "did kind of spoil it."


Many will also likely remember Iffrig as the man on the ground in the now-famous picture of Boston PD's initial response to the blast:

Photo Credit: Boston Globe

[ESPN]

More coverage of the marathon bombing here.