Editor’s Note: In honor of AAPI Month, Sampan presents the first of two video essays produced by guest correspondents from Boston University. The second will appear in our May 26 issue. Meghan Irons, Sampan Guest Editor, provides the capsule summary below.

Every year of the running of the Boston Marathon there are stories to tell — stories about the runners, their sacrifices, and the history of their journeys.

But often one thing gets overshadowed — the Asian American legacy in the historic race.

The marathon has long featured Asian-American and Pacific Islanders. While their numbers over time are not easily known, the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the race, reported that this year at least 600 Asian runners participated, including people from overseas.

In a video essay on the topic, Wanheng Jiang and Haiyi Bi set out to chronicle the Asian presence in the marathon. They talked to spectators and a pair of runners — Caleb Ho and Kassandra Tat — who represented the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center in the marathon.

Ho and Tat ran for themselves. They ran for their Asian-American community, and in honor of the memory of Lingzi Lu, a Chinese student who attended BU, and the other victims in the bombing.

Watch the video below