April 12, 2007
Tom Longboat: Commemorating a milestone

Last Updated April 10, 2007
Peter Hadzipetros, CBC News

In the early 20th century, Canada was a powerhouse when it came to the marathon. In 1900, Canadians John Caffrey, William Sherring and Fred Hughson took the top three spots in the fifth running of the Boston Marathon. It was the first time an American did not win the race. Caffrey set a course record as he finished in a time of two hours, 39 minutes and 44 seconds.

Caffrey would win again in 1901, slicing more than 10 minutes off his record. Finishing second was Bill Davis, a Mohawk runner out of Hamilton, Ont.

Tom Longboat was the heavy favourite to win the 1907 Boston Marathon. He did - in world record time. (Canadian Press)

But none of the Canadians could match the hype that surrounded the entry of Tom Longboat in the 1907 Boston Marathon. Even though he had only run in a handful of races, Longboat was the most heavily favoured runner to enter Boston since the inaugural race in 1896.

Longboat was a member of the Onandaga nation, born on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ont., on June 4, 1887. He gained local attention as a gifted runner, blowing away the competition with his strong finishes.

Longboat made his racing debut in Hamilton's Around the Bay road race in 1906, easily beating the heavily favoured English runner John Marsh. Ten days later, he won a 15-mile road race in Toronto by three minutes. He won the annual Christmas Day 10 Miler in 54 minutes and 50 seconds, shattering the Canadian record by two and a half minutes. He was being hailed as the greatest distance runner the world had ever seen.

Longboat was six weeks shy of his 20th birthday when he won the Boston Marathon on April 19, 1907, demolishing John Caffrey's previous record by five minutes.

The Boston Globe newspaper said hordes of spectators who braved cold, wet weather were rewarded with a view of "the most marvelous runner who has sped over our roads."

Longboat had become an international star, but he faced accusations that he had forfeited his amateur status because he lived in a Toronto hotel with no apparent means of support. He was barred from defending his Boston Marathon title by the New England Amateur Athletic Union.

Olympic officials disagreed and allowed him to run the marathon in the London Games in 1908, but he dropped out after collapsing 32 kilometres into the 42.2-kilometre race. The next year, he turned professional and eventually won the world professional marathon championship on an indoor track at a packed Madison Square Garden in New York.

Longboat was dogged by accusations that he performed below his potential and was lazy when it came to his training regime. He put in a lot of miles and allowed his body to recover between intense training sessions, an approach frowned upon in the early days of competitive running, but now standard practice.

In 1951, two years after Longboat's death at the age of 61, the Tom Longboat Awards were established to recognize the achievements of gifted aboriginal athletes. In 1999, Maclean's magazine recognized Longboat as the top Canadian athlete of the 20th century.

Jason Loutitt will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Longboat's victory with about 20 other aboriginal runners from Canada at this year's Boston Marathon, on April 16.

Loutitt got into running eight years ago, after 22 years of hockey and martial arts. He has won the past two Calgary marathons and grabbed the silver medal at the Canadian Marathon Championships in Ottawa in 2006.

"Running is a traditional activity for aboriginal people," Loutitt told CBC News Online. "And so by celebrating that traditional activity and the accomplishment of a fellow aboriginal person, it not only leaves a legacy but it helps set in place maybe the incentive or inspiration for more accomplishments to occur."

Loutitt is hoping to better Longboat's Boston time of two hours, 24 minutes and 24 seconds.

Loutitt's cousin, Shannon Loutitt, will be part of the group running to honour Longboat.

"I was so amazed at how this aboriginal man so quickly became the man who ran faster than everyone amidst much skepticism and racial challenges, and how he set the world record in Boston," Shannon Loutitt said.

She ran her first marathon in Regina in September 2006 but failed to meet the Boston qualifying time for women of three hours and forty minutes. Four weeks later, she ran the Toronto Marathon and beat the qualifying standard by five minutes.

The Longboat Roadrunners, a Toronto running club open to all, has 25 members who have signed up to run in Boston to mark the 100th anniversary of Longboat's victory. Club spokesman Mike Turner said when the club was established in 1980, it seemed natural to name it after the legendary runner.

"We decided it was a good name. It was more meaningful than to just have something generic. Now more of the focus of the club is honouring his name."

The Longboat club has established a scholarship at the University of Toronto that helps fund the education of an aboriginal runner who excels at long-distance running. Last September, Megan Brown became the first recipient of the Longboat Award. She is currently ranked sixth in North America at 3,000 metres.

The club has also raised money to help pay expenses for Tom Longboat's daughter, Phyllis Winnie, and three other relatives to go to Boston to honour their ancestor.