Tom Longboat
Just two years after he started running, he crushed the field in the 1907 Boston Marathon and his record time achieved over hills and through sleet stood until the course was made easier. An Onondaga from the Six Nations of the Grand River, Tom Longboat’s languid, long-limbed stride was deceivingly fast.
At the 1908 London Olympics, Longboat held an astounding pace on a tough course through the afternoon heat and when he collapsed 10 kilometres from the finish line, theories ranged from the heat to sabotage, possibly even by his own handlers, as part of a sports gambling scheme. The following year, at 21 and the peak of his career, he faced England’s Alfie Shrubb in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Longboat took the lead in the closing kilometres to win the “race of the century.”
Throughout his life, Longboat struggled with prejudice and First Nations stereotypes but, on his day, he was unbeatable and the best long-distance runner the world had ever seen.