Tom Longboat, a world champion runner from the Six Nations Grand River Reserve is the star of today’s Google Doodle here in Canada. Longboat won the Boston Marathon in record time in 1907, smashing the record by more than five minutes. Here is an article if anyone is interested:
One of the top running clubs in Toronto is called the Longboat Roadrunners, and I always wondered where they got the name from.
It is a somewhat sad story too. This related article is an eye opener on how he and other Aboriginal runners were treated: thestar.com/opinion/comment...
That he did not assimilate, would not let greedy managers take over his career and continued to practice his own religion in that era shows the strength of his character.
As a dispatch carrier with the 107th Pioneer Battalion in France, Longboat ran messages and orders between units. He also kept in competitive form by racing in inter-battalion sporting contests, many of which he won. At the 1918 Canadian Corps Dominion Day competitions, Longboat won the eight-mile [13-kilometre] race.
The famous runner was wounded twice during his time of service. Once he was declared dead, but he survived the war and returned to Canada in 1919.
My grandad was a rider in the First World War, carrying orders, messages, etc and he bugled and drummed. We don’t know the half of it do we. He came back with trench foot too and it bothered him for years. Came back to life down the pit 😬
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