New England Honda - Boston Marathon 2025

Cara Cavazza remembers growing up in Massachusetts and taking the train with her family every year to the Boston Marathon. They’d go to Boylston Street near Copley Square and find space close to the finish line and cheer on the runners as they trickled across. Cavazza had been running since she was a 5th-grader, but just for fun, never in a race. Still, this event meant something special to her even as a child. “One night I told my dad: ‘Someday, I’m going to run that race,’” she says. As she got older, Cavazza realized she would never run fast enough to qualify; and during her senior year at Boston College, she and a roommate had planned to jump in the race as bandits (when that was still acceptable), but a knee injury during training kept Cavazza on the sidelines — where it seemed she would remain. Then last year, a friend told her about Team Honda. It’s a team of area marathoners sponsored by the New England Honda Dealers, the official vehicle of the Boston Marathon, that run to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In just its third year, Team Honda raised more than $79,000 for cancer research. The goal this year is $100,000.

By Ryann Swift on March 25, 2025

SPONSORED BY

Cara Cavazza

For Cavazza, this was more than just an opportunity to check a major item off her bucket list and run the storied race — it was also a way to aid a cause that is near to her heart. Cavazza’s mother is a colon-cancer survivor; her uncle got life-extending treatment at Dana-Farber before succumbing to a rare form of blood cancer. Cavazza interned at Dana-Farber on her way to becoming an oncology nurse in palliative and hospice care in Rhode Island, where she sees everyday what the disease does to individuals and their loved ones. “It’s a special charity to my family,” she says. “Everyone is impacted by cancer.” On April 21, Cavazza will join 14 other runners from all over New England on Team Honda at the starting line in Hopkinton. They will run 26 miles and 385 yards for themselves, for each other, and for people whose lives, like their own, have been touch by cancer.

Running for a cure: Team Honda takes on the Boston Marathon for cancer research

Every runner, whether a hobbyist or a hardcore ultramarathoner, has a different reason for lacing up and hitting the trail or pavement. For some, it’s a way to stay physically healthy; for others it’s about focusing the mind. A long trail run in the woods can help you bond with nature; a quick sidewalk jog can help you get to better know a city or neighborhood. Long-distance racers enjoy the discipline of training and the challenge of finishing. For Team Honda captain Jason Lacroix, preparing for the Boston Marathon is about putting life in perspective. “Every time I go on a six-mile training run, I wonder where I will find another 20,” says Lacroix. “It’s not something you can do without training; and for the Boston Marathon, you’re training in the dead of winter. It’s freezing, snowing, blowing 30-mph winds. Roads are icy. Days are short and you’re running in the dark with a headlamp.

Every runner has their reason

Stronger Together

One of those stories was that of Jessica Johnson. Her mom was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2002, and six weeks later she was gone. “When you lose someone you love to cancer, you feel devastated,” says Johnson. “When the opportunity came to apply for Team Honda last year, I jumped on it, because I found out that they raise money for Dana-Farber. And I thought about what a wonderful way to pass on my mom’s legacy to other families and patients that are fighting their battle with cancer.”

Doing all of that for Dana-Farber makes it easier. You think about how challenging it is to fight cancer. That makes this all seem a little easier.

Jason Lacroix

Johnson had always felt that running was a solitary effort. But when she first met and started training with the rest of her Team Honda teammates, Johnson suddenly realized she was part of something much greater than herself. That support, that unity in goal and focus, made her a better runner. But it also helped her connect with the larger community of cancer survivors and other people who had lost loved ones to the disease. “Always having someone to reach out to and knowing you’re in it together makes it feel less alone,” says Johnson.

This year, Johnson returns as a veteran to help newcomers, like Cavazza, who have never run the race before. The team has been getting to know each other, training, and mentally preparing to take off from that start line on April 21. They’ll be running for Team Honda, for each other, for the loved ones they’ve lost, and most importantly, for the future cancer patients they’ll help save. “Taking off is like running through a big bowl of jellybeans,” says Lacroix. “Seeing all these people in front of you is incredible. As you move along, the streets are moving. But you see your teammates, wearing the same jersey, running beside you. Then you turn onto Boylston and see the finish line. It’s amazing.” If you’d like to donate to Team Honda to help Dana-Farber raise money for cancer research, you can visit the team’s fundraising page here. If you have any interest in representing Team Honda in the 2026 Boston Marathon, you can request more info here.

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of clean, safe, fun and connected vehicles sold through more than 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. Honda has the highest fleet average fuel economy and lowest CO2 emissions of any major full-line automaker in America, according to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Honda lineup includes the Civic, Insight, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V, Passport and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan. Honda’s electrified vehicle lineup includes the Clarity Fuel Cell and Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, Accord Hybrid, CR-V Hybrid and Insight hybrid-electric sedan – to be joined in 2024 by the Honda Prologue, Honda’s first volume battery-electric vehicle.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for 40 years and currently operates 18 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2021, more than 95% of all Honda vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

Lacroix, who is responsible for eight companies in New England, helped start Team Honda in 2022 to tie the larger running community with illustrious Boston Marathon, giving more people an opportunity to experience the event. Honda pays for the bib. But he also knew that he wanted to harness the energy of the effort to raise money and awareness for a worthy cause. When Lacroix and his associates started soliciting applications for Team Honda, which included personal essays from each applicant explaining why they wanted to run for Team Honda and Dana-Farber, they wanted to cast a wide net. They wanted runners from each of the six New England states and representing multiple age groups, backgrounds, genders, and demographics. He quickly found that everyone from every walk of life eventually encounters this disease. “Everybody is touched by cancer. Who isn’t?” says Lacroix. “And as you raise money for cancer research, you hear a lot of stories.”

Jessica Johnson