Tom Ecker THE BIRTH AND EARLY SURVIVAL OF THE MARATHON M 53

Capitalizing on his fame, Dorando Pietri, known only as “Dorando” to his admiring fans, became a professional runner after the 1908 Olympics. He competed in several marathons in the United States, including two races against Johnny Hayes on Madison Square Garden’s 160-yard board track. Dorando won the first of the 288-lap marathons in the Garden on November 24, 1908, beating Hayes by just 60 yards.

When a rematch was scheduled, Dorando became the first sports hero to have a popular song composed for him. The song, “Dorando,” was written by a struggling 21-year-old singing waiter and songwriter named Israel “Izzy” Baline, who had recently changed his name to Irving Berlin.

The song, released just three days before the big rematch in Madison Square Garden on March 15, 1909, was a “comedy dialect” tune about two ItalianAmericans who sold their barber shop to bet everything on Dorando.

The song describes Dorando’s race at “Ma-dees-a Square” as “He run-a, run like anything, one-a, two-a hundred times around the ring.” But, alas, “Dorando, he’s-a drop. Good-bye, poor barber shop.” In the second verse, Dorando explains he had been given “da Irish beef-a stew” instead of “da spa-gett,” and “it make me very sick.”

The song might have been more successful if Dorando had dropped out of the race, as the song suggested. However, he not only finished but lapped Johnny Hayes five times and won easily.

THE 1912 OLYMPIC MARATHON IN STOCKHOLM The outstanding organization and efficient management of the Stockholm organizers, coupled with top sports performances, established the Olympic Games as an important and permanent international event. The exceptionally pleasant atmosphere in Stockholm sharply contrasted the acrimony of the London Games four years earlier. Again, the marathon was the most popular of the Olympic events. With 68 runners, the race started at 1:48 p.m. on an unseasonably hot and humid day. The course ran from the Olympic Stadium, which was filled to capacity, a little over 13 miles over country roads to the halfway point in the village of Rotebro (now a Stockholm suburb). There the runners ran around a temporary pole in the road and then followed the same route back to the stadium. Later, to commemorate the event, a 13-foot (four-meter) marble column was constructed at the side of the road, near the actual turnaround point.

After 24 miles, two South Africans, Ken McArthur and Chris Gitshan, were well ahead of the field. With a little more than two miles to go, McArthur agreed to wait for Gitsham when the latter stopped for a drink of water at the final drinking station. But as Gitsham began drinking, McArthur took off for the stadium. Gitsham struggled to catch up, but McArthur beat him to the tape by less than one minute.

One of the strangest stories to come out of the 1912 Olympic Games was the mysterious disappearance of Japanese marathon runner Siso Kanakuri. When the marathon was completed, Olympic officials began accounting for the 34 runners who had not finished because of the extreme heat. The officials were able to locate all of the runners but one—Kanakuri. The police were called in, but they too were unable to find him. Kanakuri had disappeared.

As years passed, occasional tongue-in-cheek ““Kanakuri sightings” occurred in the Stockholm area. Some said he was seen in the company of two Swedish girls and had no desire to return to Japan. Others said they saw him running around the back streets of Rotebro, trying to find his way back to the Olympic Stadium.

In 1962, on the 50th anniversary of the race, a Stockholm newspaper reporter went to Japan to try to find Kanakuri. He found the missing runner teaching geography in a public school in the town of Tamana. Kanakuri explained that he had completed half the race when he was overcome by the heat. He stumbled into the yard of a Swedish family, who took him in, gave him drinks of raspberry juice, and provided a bed for a long nap.

When he awoke, the family gave him clothing and put him on a train back to Stockholm. Kanakuri was so embarrassed to not finish the marathon that he quietly left the country, taking a boat back to Japan. He did not realize that for 50 years he had been “the Japanese who disappeared” and that he’d become a Swedish legend.

In 1967, when he was 76, Siso Kanakuri was flown back to Stockholm to participate in the opening of a new shopping mall in Rotebro, near the site of the marathon’s turnaround point. Then he was taken to the Olympic Stadium, where, to the great delight of the Swedish people, he ran across the finish line. After 55 years, Kanakuri had finally completed his marathon. Pe, 1. Greek athletes did participate in two qualifying marathons before the 1896 Olympics, but since all of the participants were from one nation, the Olympic competition is considered the first marathon race.

2. The grandsons, Edward VII and George VI, both became kings of England in 1936—Edward in January and George in December. Tom Ecker THE BIRTH AND EARLY SURVIVAL OF THE MARATHON Mi 55

e Timers and Timing displays for all racing events.

e Nine inch finish line clocks.

e Six inch Standard Race Displays.

e Economical Four inch models for cross country or milepoint displays.

e All displays are available in 4, 5 or 6 digit models to cover 1 hr, 10 hr or 100 hr races.

Rx “The Mule” Worley had a problem. In October of 1998 he found a

glitch in his marathoning schedule. A glitch in Rick Worley’s schedule is not like the glitch in the schedule of a normal human being who runs perhaps two marathons a year—which is why Rick is knownas “The Mule,” and the rest of us aren’t.