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Author's Note
 It is a short run
from my door to the Rideau Canal and not much
further from there to where the sun on a bright
day in May dazzles the diamond expanse of Dow's
Lake and leads round in its beckoning way to
Hartwells Locks and on to Hog's Back Falls. The
runners of Ottawa know this trail as they know
few others, its images committed to memory. They
know where urban fishermen dangle their lines,
where lovers nestle, where the students of
Carleton University fret over books and where
the tumbling white of Hog's Back first hoves
into view.
I usually turn there,
glistening with sweat, and swing back through Vincent
Massey Park, a placid refuge where squirrels scatter
and fountains sparkle and pines in lordly silence rise
against the sky. If George Sheehan is right, and we
should trust no thought arrived at sitting down, then
this five-mile journey is as good a place as any to
decide to write a book.
The idea at the outset was to compile the stories of
the eleven largely-forgotten Canadians, dating back to
1900, who have won the Boston Marathon. Along the way,
as simple ideas have a habit of doing, the book
expanded into a chronicle of the early years of road
racing and marathoning in Canada, and it also became,
from a uniquely Canadian perspective, the story of the
development of the Boston Marathon from a bizarre
local footrace to a world-renowned sports spectacle.
A friend cautioned as
the book was being completed to beware of
acknowledging contributors. "There are always so
many," he said. "You can't possibly remember
everyone." As the author of several books himself,
Barry Wilson should know. Yet I feel compelled to name
some of the individuals to whom I am most indebted,
Barry included.
I extend special thanks
to The Canada Council which assisted with research
expenses, to the unflaggingly cheerful staff in the
newspaper microfilm section of the National Library,
and to the nameless legions of journalists whose work
from bygone years made this book possible.
My thanks also to
Richard Gwyn and Ian Urquhart of The Toronto Star,
Terrance Wills and Andrew Phillips of the Montreal
Gazette, Peter Bregg of The Canadian Press, Bill
Armstrong, Bernice Solomon and John Curtin of Canadian
Runner, Jean Tebbut of the Hamilton Spectator, Earl
Gouchie of the Amherst Daily News, Joe Concannon of
the Boston Globe, Gilles Chiasson of the Sport
Information Resource Centre in Ottawa, Tom West of
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, Michael Cobb of Veterans
Affairs Canada, John Paveling of Public Archives
Canada, Alice Connolly of the Prudential Insurance
Company, Charles Longley of the Boston Public Library,
the executive of the Boston Athletic Association, the
staff of the Nova Scotia Public Archives, the Hamilton
Public Library, the Metropolitan Toronto Library and
the Library of Parliament, and to Bill Rodgers,
Eleanor Thomas, Byron Tindel, Yuvaraj Dufresne, Del
Carrothers, Doug Long, Dr. John Miles Williston, Eva
Blaikie, Mr. and Mrs. Matti Komonen, Mary Caffery,
John and Bess Miles, Gerard Cote, Jacqueline Gareau,
Gilles Lapierre, Dorothy Cameron, Walter Young and
Jerome Drayton.
Finally, this book would not exist without the support
and inspiration of four special people: Connie
Salamone of Brooklyn, New York, Alan Wright of
Rimouski, Quebec, Joe Henderson of Eugene, Oregon, and
Susan Rosidi, my adviser, best friend and partner in
life.
David Blaikie
Ottawa
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