Footprints 2004:
Phone: (780) 455-2700Fax
(780) 455-7639
Email: edwind@ammsa.com
Phone: (780) 455-2700
Fax
(780) 455-7639Email: edwind@ammsa.com
[Footprints] Tom
Longboat:
Athlete continues to inspire
Cheryl Petten
In 1998, as one century was about to end and another begin,
Maclean's magazine ran a list of the 100 most important Canadians
in history, dividing them into 10 categories, with 10 names in
each category. In the Stars category, reserved for the best in
celebrity the country has had to offer, the number one spot went
to Tom Longboat. And in the list of the top 10 Canadians in history
overall, Longboat came in ninth spot, sharing the list with the
likes of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Glenn Gould, Nellie McClung
and K.C. Irving.
But just who was Tom Longboat,
and why did Maclean's deem him to be such an important person
in the history of our country?
Thomas Charles Longboat was born on the Six Nations reserve on
June 4, 1887, a member of the Onondaga Nation. His Iroquois name
was Cogwagee, which means Everything.
The family lived on a small farm, and everyone had to help with
the plowing, harvesting and caring for the animals. When his
father died when Longboat was only five, the children had to
pitch in even more to help their mother.
While chores kept him busy growing up, Longboat always found
time for fun, sometimes sneaking away from his work to play lacrosse.
He was a good lacrosse player, partly because of his speed. That
speed also came in handy when his mother would send his older
brother out to find him and bring him back home, and the two
would spend hours chasing each other all over the reserve and
into the neighboring countryside.
In the spring of 1905, 17-year-old Tom Longboat entered his first
competitive race, the annual Victoria Day five-mile race in Caledonia.
He didn't win the race, coming in second, but the experience
had whetted his appetite and he decided to begin training to
improve his strength and endurance.
Part of his training involved running to neighboring towns, but
members of his family wouldn't believe him when he told them
how far and fast his travels had taken him. That was until Longboat
beat his brother to Hamilton, with Longboat on foot and the brother
driving a horse and buggy and getting a half-hour head start.
The training regimen paid off for Longboat when the Victoria
Day race came back around. From the very beginning he took the
lead and maintained it through all five miles, finishing more
than 400 yards ahead of the nearest competitor.
Longboat's next race would be the Hamilton Herald Around the
Bay race along a 19-mile course. When he lined up at the starting
line with the 26 other competitors, no one there had ever heard
of him, and he was given 100 to 1 odds at winning by those taking
bets on the race's outcome. But by the time the race was over,
everyone had taken note of the newcomer, who finished the route
in just over one hour, 49 minutes, almost three minutes ahead
of the second place finisher.
The results were the same in Longboat's next two races, the 15-mile
Ward Marathon in Toronto, and a 10-mile race on Christmas Day
in Hamilton.
In 1907, Longboat set his sites on an event that was, and still
remains, the premiere running event of the world-the Boston Marathon.
Longboat was one of seven Canadians entered in the race, with
104 runners in total competing. He won the race handily in a
record time of 2.24:24, beating the previous record by five minutes.
With the Boston Marathon under his belt, Longboat's next big
challenge would be the Olympic Games, to be held in London, England
the following year. Leading up to the Olympics, he recorded win
after win after win, beating a relay team in a five-mile race,
winning the Ward Marathon again, and setting a new Canadian three-mile
record of 15:09.6.
The day of the Olympic race was hot, and the runners faced a
route longer than many of them had ever run before-26.2 miles-lengthened
so the royal family could watch the start of the race from Windsor
castle. Longboat was running in second place when, nearing the
20-mile mark he collapsed and had to leave the race. The route
took a similar toll on many of the other participants, with fewer
than half finishing, and many of those finishing having to be
carried off in stretchers.
Following his experience in London, Longboat ran in two lackluster
races back at home in Ontario, and some began to talk as if his
running career was over. But it didn't take long for Longboat
to convince them otherwise. He finished off the year by setting
a new national record, and claiming his third consecutive Ward
Marathon win, finishing eight minutes ahead of the second place
runner. Then, on Dec. 15, he left his amateur career behind and
turned pro.
His first professional race was against Dorando Pietri, an Italian
runner who had crossed the finish line first in the Olympic marathon,
but who hadn't won a medal because officials had helped him across.
Pietri had already won a rematch against the Olympic gold winner
John Hayes, and Longboat had been invited to challenge the winner.
The race took place in New York's Madison Square Garden and,
despite the fact that Longboat was unaccustomed to running on
an indoor track, he won the race when, with just six laps to
go, Pietri collapsed and had to be removed from the track on
a stretcher. A few weeks later the two runners met in a rematch
in Buffalo, and although this time Pietri left the track under
his own steam, the end result was the same.
Longboat's next race would be Jan. 26 in Madison Square Garden,
a match up against Alfie Shrubb, an English runner who as an
amateur had dominated that country's running events. The lead
up to the race became a media circus, with daily accounts of
the runners' preparations for the big day.
The first half of the race belonged to Shrubb, who at one point
was eight laps ahead of Longboat. Then, about 15 miles into the
race, Longboat began to pick up speed. Twenty miles in, he'd
reduced the lead to six laps. At the 23-mile mark, Shrubb's lead
was down to two laps. Longboat made up the difference at the
24-mile mark and as he passed his competitor, Shrubb walked off
the track, leaving Longboat to finish alone to earn the title
professional champion of the world.
When war was declared in August 1914, Longboat joined up. He
continued to run, both in competitions and exhibition matches
set up for the forces, and in his role as a dispatch runner,
taking messages between posts when communications were down.
When he returned home after the war, things had changed. Professional
racing was no longer the draw it once had been and, although
he still competed in a few races, Longboat soon had to turn his
attentions to making a living through other means.
In early in 1949 he developed pneumonia and, on Jan. 9 at the
age of 61, Tom Longboat died.
Longboat has been called the greatest marathon runner of all
time, and one of the greatest Canadian athletes that ever lived.
Now, over half a century after his death, the legacy of Tom Longboat
lives on. He has been inducted into the Canadian Indian Hall
of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. An elementary school
in Toronto bears his name. His name and image grace a limited
edition stamp issued by Canada Post to honor famous Canadians
of the past century. And each year, the Tom Longboat Awards are
given out to the top Aboriginal amateur athletes in the country,
showing that almost 100 years after he ran his first race, the
name of Tom Longboat continues to inspire.