A Great Running Nation

To those who think this is a hockey country, we say Canada is a nation of runners. We’re home to a million runners who train in the toughest elements. We have a rich history of champions and record-breakers. And one Canadian is simply the greatest runner of all time.

Canada is supposedly a land of hockey and donuts. So it may be a surprise to some people that we consider Canada a great running nation.

True, we may not have won as many international track meets as hockey tournaments. And Canadians may not be the favourites this year at any of the major marathons. But this is still the country that sent Tom Longboat to victory in Boston and Donovan Bailey to a gold medal in Atlanta. And produced dozens of other great champions in between.

This is a land with as many as a million runners. That’s about double the number of hockey players. And many Canadians run all year round in one of the most extreme climates in the world. Show us another country where you train for a marathon when it’s -30c and run the event when it’s 25c, all in the same city.

Still not convinced? Consider this: when the people of this country were asked to vote on the Greatest Canadian, the guy who came second (and probably should have won) was a runner. What other country can say that?

So we submit that Canada is a great running country, a nation of runners. We’ve produced some great running moments. And we also gave the world the man we consider to be the greatest runner of all time.

Terry Fox

"I idolized Terry, in part because we shared the same first name. I was nine then. I even tried running like him. I wanted to be like him. He was my first hero and one who I’ve come to respect even more as life goes on for his convictions and for facing his fears."Terry SanCartier - Gatineau, Quebec

"I never got to see Terry run, but from what I’ve read and seen I don’t know how he did a marathon a day. Terry’s story grabbed me so much that I carry the Terry Fox loonie when I race, hoping somehow that his strength of mind and character will rub off on me."Niall McGrath - Edmonton, Alberta

Many have run faster than Terry Fox. A few have even run farther. But no other runner in human history combines his incredible athletic achievement and the impact he continues to have on millions of lives around the world. Who else could have even conceived of running across the world’s second largest country on only one leg?

Through the simple yet profound act of running, for 143 days and more than 5,000 kilometres, Terry Fox transformed the way people think, inspired millions of people and launched a legacy that will last a century and beyond.

Terry’s legacy has spread farther than he ever dreamed. Since the Marathon of Hope in 1980, more than $400 million has been raised for cancer research in his name. There are Terry Fox Runs in more than 50 countries around the world. Name another runner who is known everywhere from Argentina and Australia, by kids who weren’t even born when he died.

As his 50th birthday approaches in July, we asked Canadians to tell us, in roughly 50 words, their memories of Terry Fox and their thoughts on his legacy. Some of them, including a passionate account from Martha Henry, first lady of the Canadian stage, are included here. There are more at iRunNation.com.

Between now and Terry’s 50th, we want to hear from you. Send us your 50-word memories of the Marathon of Hope, your stories about how Terry continues to inspire you and how the legacy expands for the greatest runner of all time.

  WEB EXTRA:  Read other more tributes to Terry Fox.
  WEB EXTRA:  Submit your own tribute to Terry Fox.

Tom Longboat wins the 1907 Boston Marathon

Longboat was just six weeks shy of his twentieth birthday when he toed to line in Boston for the first and only time. While a promising early career made Longboat an odds-on favourite to win, no one - including the cigar-chomping sportswriters who’d labeled the Onondaga runner "Heap Big Chief" and "The Redskin" - could have predicted the commanding way in which he would do so. Keeping pace behind the leaders for the first ten miles, Longboat’s legend was secured when he sped up to outrace a freight train that would cut off all but the top nine runners. Despite punishing cold winds and sleet in the latter half of the race, Longboat pulled ahead by mile 17 and ran for the finish line with a lead of almost a mile and a Canadian flag in hand, passed to him by a young girl cheering along the homestretch. His time of 2:24:24 smashed the course record (set by fellow Canadian Jack Caffery in 1901) by a whopping five minutes.

Johnny Miles’ upset win at the 1926 Boston Marathon, having never completed a race longer than 10 miles

Despite his last name, Miles had only covered the 26.2 mile distance once in his life prior to his Boston debut - in training, by taking a train that far out of his Cape Breton hometown and then running back again. Such Dickensian tales are the stuff of Johnny Miles’ life story - sent to work in a coal mine at age 11 to help support his family, taking up racing only in order to win valuable prizes and much-needed money - yet Miles’ lasting legacy as a great Canadian runner goes beyond mere triumph over a disadvantaged youth. Wearing a homemade jersey stitched with a red maple leaf, with a photo of his idol, Finnish marathoner Albin Stenroos, tucked away for luck, Miles upset what was supposed to be a bitter duel between Stenroos and previous Boston champ and marathon world record-holder Clarence DeMar. Miles doggedly pursued the pair at his father’s advice, pulling ahead with Stenroos when he dropped DeMar, and eventually passing his idol on Heartbreak Hill. ’’I looked at Stenroos and his eyes were sunken, his face was kind of pulled in, and I figured this was the time to pass him," Miles recounted. "I was afraid to look behind me again for fear he was coming." But he wasn’t, and Miles would finish some four minutes ahead, shattering by roughly the same margin the course and world records, both held by DeMar. The defeated champ paid him the highest praise he could muster: "That boy ran the best marathon since that Indian in 1907," DeMar told reporters at the finish line.

David Bailey breaks the four-minute barrier for the mile, the first Canadian to do so

More than a decade after Roger Bannister had famously sailed past the four-minute barrier for the mile, top Canadian track athletes were still struggling to catch up, inching ever closer (Bruce Kidd’s 4:01.4 in ’62; Ergas Leps’ 4:01.1 in ’64) but maddeningly, remaining ever-so-slightly out of reach. That is, until June 11, 1966, when East York Track Club Team Coach Fred Foot transferred his own plane ticket to David Bailey, the young, up-and-coming miler he felt was ready to challenge the record. (Foot had been unable to find a ticket for Bailey.) Bailey did more than challenge. Spurred by a blistering pace set by top milers Jim Grelle and Neil Duggan, Bailey crossed the line in 3:59.1, unaware of what he’d accomplished until his friend and top 800m specialist Bill Crothers broke the news. (Bailey thought he’d underperformed on the last 200 yards, and had missed the mark.) Bailey would push even harder to best his own record on home turf just over a year later, running a 3:57.7 before an ecstatic crowd of thousands at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium on July 22, 1967. Not only was he the first Canadian to break four minutes on Canadian soil, but his time would stand as the Canadian record for a decade to come.

Silvia Ruegger’s triple crown of marathon records in less than a year: Olympic Trials (May 1984), Los Angeles Summer Olympics (August 1984), Houston Marathon (January 1985)

In the spring of 1984, Silvia Ruegger ran her first-ever marathon. She chose a favourite race for marathon newbies: the flat, fast course of the National Capital Marathon in Ottawa. However, unlike the rest of the first-timers who toed the line that spring morning, Ruegger didn’t just celebrate crossing the finish line - she celebrated getting there first, winning the women’s race, qualifying for the Olympic team, and posting the fastest marathon debut by a woman, ever (2:30:37). So, how does a 23- year old, once-average, middle-distance runner top such an auspicious debut? By setting a new Canadian women’s record (2:29:09) in the Summer Olympics - the first games to hold a women’s marathon - just a few short months later, battling oppressive conditions to finish eighth overall. And to top that? Yet another Canadian women’s record in Houston in marathon #3 (2:28:36) less than six months after the Olympics - a record, like Jerome Drayton’s, that still stands. What few realize is that Ruegger in part owes her record to the challenge posed by fellow Canadian Jacqueline Gareau (see below), who Ruegger managed to outkick at the 35k mark, but who crossed the finish line a mere 56 seconds later in second place.

Twenty-five years after the Rosie Ruiz scandal, rightful winner Jacqueline Gareau breaks the tape at the 2005 Boston Marathon

While Jacqueline Gareau’s golden moment in Canadian running history should have been breaking the tape as the fastest woman at the Boston Marathon in 1980, she would have to wait some two and a half decades for that priviledge courtesy of running’s most infamous cheater, Rosie Ruiz. The Montreal native ran the race in a course record time of 2:34:28, and had been certain that she was in the lead until the frantic cheering mysteriously stopped in the home stretch. At the finish, she found a suspiciously fresh-faced Ruiz wearing the winner’s laurels, clad in a bulky yellow t-shirt and unable to answer the most basic questions about her race or training. (When asked about her ten-mile split, Ruiz replied, "What’s a split?") Ruiz was later disqualified, having jumped in the race only a few miles from the finish, and Gareau declared the rightful winner. But it was only during her race marshall duties during the 2005 Boston Marathon when Gareau - who had gone on to place a legitimate second in Boston twice and in the top-10 two more times in the years since - would finally get to break the tape as the women’s winner, courtesy of a special ceremony honouring her accomplishment. As the blissful expression on Gareau’s face attested as she crossed the line so many years later, there is something quintessentially Canadian about that kind of deferred gratification.

At the 1975 Fukuoka Marathon, Jerome Drayton sets a Canadian men’s record...that still stands to this day

By 1975, Jerome Drayton’s once-promising running career seemed all but finished. After bursting on to the scene in the late 60s with impressive debuts in the 10,000m and the marathon, including a then-national-record (2:16:11) in the summer of 1968, Drayton had tilted at windmills between the loftiest acheivements and the bitterest defeats: He qualified for the Canadian Olympic team sent to Mexico City in 1968, only to DNF the marathon due to dysentary. He set new North American records at the 1969 Motor City and Fukuoka marathons and a world record in the 10-mile distance in 1970, only to miss qualifying for the 1972 Olympics because of a mis-measured course. Drayton was then plagued by injuries and financial woes throughout the early 70s. But the man who’d already reinvented himself once by changing his name from Peter Buniak re-invented himself once more in the 1975 edition of the prestigous Japanese marathon. His legs and feet in agony courtesy of a pair of shoes custom-made for him by a Japanese sporting goods company just hours prior to the race, Drayton managed to surge past Australian Dave Chettle in the final mile, and made for the finish line unaware of just how aggressive a pace he’d managed (Drayton never wore a watch when he raced). He crossed the line in a startling 2:10:09, the fifth fastest marathon ever at the time, and still a Canadian record by almost a full minute some thirty-two years later.

A Canadian man wins Olympic gold, sets a new world record in the 100m...And gets to keep them both! Donovan Bailey takes 100m gold in Atlanta (July 29, 1996)

Scandal, the shame of Johnson’s lost gold and world record in Seoul still cast a sizeable shadow over the Canadian track and field community when the sprinter from Oakville took to the starting blocks that muggy night in Atlanta. And in an event where milliseconds matter, Bailey’s race seemed to be over before it even began: After a nerve-wracking series of false starts, Bailey was last out of the blocks and seemed to struggle to find his stride, long legs turning over at a speed that appeared sluggish compared to that of his competitors. But Bailey’s "slow" turnover concealed a stride that was as powerful as it was ground-eating - a fact his opponents discovered as he picked them off one by one and broke the tape in a world record, 9.84 second performance. While Bailey’s record was marginally slower than Johnson’s ill-begotten 9.79 seconds, unlike Johnson’s record, Bailey’s would stand for almost three years.

Canadian men’s 4x100m relay team takes home Olympic Gold Atlanta, humbling the heavily-favoured American "home team" along the way.

"If you’re Canadian you have to love Saturday nights in Georgia!" hollered the late, great CBC commentator Don Wittman as team anchor Donovan Bailey sailed toward a gold medal finish just one week after his 100m record. For all the hype about the prospect of the American men’s relay team claiming gold on home turf, it was the flawless teamwork of the Canadian men that would win the day: From the blazing start provided by Sudbury native Robert Esmie - the words "BLAST OFF" shaved into his head just for the occasion - to the picture-perfect turn run by Glenroy Gilbert, to the gap opened up by Bruny Surin, the Americans were never even given a chance to challenge, let alone win. So commanding was the Canadian lead by the time Bailey took the baton, he (somewhat controversially) pumped his arm in the air in victory some twenty metres from the finish line.

6,500 kilometers, 111 days, 6 African countries: Ray Zahan runs across the Sahara desert

It began - as most outlandish plans do - as a conversation between buddies. Ray Zahab, the Chelsea, Que.-based runner who’d gone from being a pack-a-day smoker to promising ultramarathoner in the span of a few short years, had just completed a 333km race through the Niger desert. "Dude, the desert is incredible," Zahab remarked to American adventure racer Charlie Engle. "I wonder if anyone has ever run across the whole Sahara before? Imagine running from one end to the other." The answer to Zahab’s question was "no," and so on Nov. 2, 2006, Zahab, Engle, and Taiwanese ultrarunner Kevin Lin set out to be the first, raising awareness about African water quality issues along the way. When Zahab dipped his hand in the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal on that first day, he had no idea what extremes he and his team would face, averaging a marathon and a half a day over 6,500-plus kilometers of some of the toughest conditions imaginable- ankle-deep sand, 40-degree heat and blinding sandstorms, with only GPS systems to mark their course and poisonous camel spiders as spectators. Zahab would spend much of the trek in excruciating pain from tendinitis, but with a little help from some painkillers and an unnervingly positive attitude, he still managed the final, gruelling push to the "finish line" in Egypt - averaging 100 kilometres a day for a week, and then completing the final 300 kilometres in a 60-hour push with only two hours of sleep.

A few less-competitive Canadian moments...

Michael J. Fox’s Diet Pepsi dash sets a new Canadian sprinting record (for men in sweater vests jumping over the hoods of cars)

The year was 1987. The product being sold was Diet Pepsi. The premise: A beautiful blond neighbour -her beauty only "heightened" by a huge pair of shoulder pads - knocks on Fox’s door, asking for some of her favourite sugarless soda. When Fox realizes he’s (gasp!) all out, the synthesizer music swells, and he’s off to the races: He shimmies down the fire escape, sprints wildly across the hoods of cars stuck in gridlock to the neighbourhood pop machine, and sprints back to his apartment with Diet Pepsi in hand, all unbeknownst to his shoulder-padded princess. The only telltale sign: A sweaty brow from the effort, no doubt the result of the not-so-moisture-wicking capabilities of Fox’s Alex P Keaton-style sweater vest.

Michael Cera’s demonstration of what Canadian men really look like in running shorts in Juno

In probably the most blatant cinematic display of skinny white thigh since Nicole Kidman’s last nude scene, the sight of Cera (as gawky teen track star Paulie Bleeker) applying Body Glide in the mirror before heading out for his daily run had male runners from Cape Breton to Saltspring Island breathing a collective sigh of relief. Finally, a character they could relate to.

Jann Arden appears on the cover of Chatelaine fifty pounds lighter, praises "committed jogging," curses genetics

In a makeover the likes of which the Canadian music scene hasn’t seen Alanis Morisette reclaimed her last name and started behaving badly in movie theatres, Calgary songstess Jann Arden appeared on the cover of the January, 2007 issue of Chatelaine a fit, significantly trimmed-down version of her former self. Arden credited her steady weight loss of an astounding 50 pounds over 15 months to a drastically new training regime: Instead of going for beers with her bandmates after the show, she would hit the hotel treadmill for a run, a practice she self-deprecatingly termed "committed jogging." But Arden admitted lifestyle wasn’t the only thing working against her, citing a generations-old waistline battle on her dad’s side of the family; or, as she put it, "I look at my father and I curse his sperm!"