The 1930 500-mile Peter Dawson Relay

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By Davy Crockett

Both a podcast and a full article

As the Great Depression began raging across the world, race events for professional ultrarunners pretty much dried up in the United States. All professional sports suffered in America during that time. For a few years, promoters in Canada filled the void, and were able to attract some of the most talented American ultrarunners to head northward, to run in their races.

One such race was the 1930 Peter Dawson Relay held in the province of Quebec. This was one of those forgotten races that deserves a place in the history of ultrarunning. Both New York and Boston bid for the race but it was awarded to Quebec. It included many of the greatest American ultrarunners of that time. Most of them have been totally forgotten and all have now passed away, but some of them lived into the 1980s and 1990s.

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The race participants were an interesting breed. They had a passion for endurance running and enjoyed the attention it gave them. Most of the American entrants in the relay had run together for many weeks in 1928 or 1929, racing across America in C.C. Pyle’s “Bunion Derbies,” They knew each other well. Several of the Canadians had competed against each other at a 200-mile “Green Stripe” snowshoe race held the previous winter, an event that caught the imagination and attention of Quebec and elsewhere.

The Race Formation

The 1930 Peter Dawson Relay was organized by sports promoter, Armand Vincent (1900-1948). He was a well-known boxing promoter in Quebec. The race involved teams of two runners each, using a similar relay format that was popular at the time for six-day bicycle races. A description of the race included, “Unlike the man-killing Pyle 1928-29 marathon races across America which saw individual runners plodding along wearily the width of the continent, the Peter Dawson event will be raced in relays. The relay arrangement ensures more sustained and greater speed, a far more testing race.” The distance for the race was planned for about 500 miles, in daily stages, for eight days. The top runners would average running the entire distance at nearly six-minute-mile pace. Rules for each stage would determine how often the runners were allowed to switch off with their teammate.

The race was set for July 1930 by the sponsors, Samuel and Allan Bronfman of the Distillers Corporation of Montreal. Yes, it was sponsored by a liquor company during the period of prohibition in America. These two businessmen had successfully put on the Great Stripe International Swimming Marathon in 1929 and the 1930 Green Stripe 200-mile six-stage snowshoe race from Quebec City to Montreal. The sponsors named this running event, “Peter Dawson,” after a popular brand of Whisky. They had made a fortune exporting alcohol to the United States during the prohibition years, which wasn’t against the law to do in Canada.

The start was set to start in Montreal. The course would follow roads, mostly dirt at that time, making a giant circle within the Quebec Province. For the last stage, a marathon (26.2 miles) was planned to be held in the large baseball stadium at Montreal.

It is important to put this and other ultradistances races of the time it their proper historical perspective. These runners were true trail ultrarunners who ran dirt roads. They would not be running six-minute-miles on nice smooth paved roads, they were running on rutted dirt roads that went over hills and became muddy. Several of these runners had already run up and over mountains, running across America — twice. Many had recently run against horses for hundreds of miles and beat them. Think about the inaccurate claim that was told in recent decades, that trail ultrarunning was invented in the mid-1970s, running against horses. The sport was not invented then. These 1930s runners had already run races that involved hundreds of miles of dirt roads and were ready to do it again in Canada, with great speed and endurance.

Race Recruiting

For about four months, Vincent recruited runners across the world to sign up and compete for a total of $10,000 prize money. First place would be awarded $3,000 (valued at $45,270 in 2018 dollars). Second place, $1,500, $1,000 for third, etc. This was significant prize money for runners to invest the time traveling to Canada during the summer.

Vincent contacted American, Clarence H. DeMar (1888-1958), winner of seven Boston Marathons and a bronze medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics, in hopes to persuade him to come. But “Mr. DeMarathon” declined. He didn’t want to lose his amateur status. He hoped to run at the next Olympics in Los Angeles. Many of the finishers of C. C. Pyle’s Bunion Derbies were also contacted.

Four all expense-paid entries were awarded to local French-Canadians who would compete in a 15-mile race at Beaconsfield horse race track, near Montreal. Most of the runners were experienced amateurs and a few professionals were allowed to enter. Four amateurs ended up accepting the “golden ticket” into the Peter Dawson Relay.

Professional American ultrarunners did come. One explained, “Anything marked ‘pro’ in the U.S. doesn’t get much attention from spectators for what reason I can’t understand.” But in Canada team endurance races were quite the rage in 1930, having runners pitted against horses, roller skaters, and doing all sorts of stunts. They knew that the Peter Dawson would be a successful event.

The Contestants

22 Canadians and 14 Americans

Joie Ray, Illinois; Johnny Salo, New Jersey
Arthur Newton, South Africa; Peter Gavuzzi, England
Edouard Fabre, Quebec, Olli Wanttinen, Finland
Mike McNamara, Australia; Lin Dilks, Pennsylvania
Omer Ouelette, Quebec; Fred Desroches, Quebec
Phil Granville, Ontario; Frank Hoey, Quebec
Idela Gauther, Quebec; Remi Laflamme, Quebec
Sammy Richman, California; Elmer Cowley, New Jersey
Nestor Erickson, New Jersey; Tom Ems, Ontario
Charron, Quebec; W. Bernier, Quebec
Alcide Fortin, Quebec; Roch Bourassa, Quebec
Colin, Quebec; Andre Lebrum, Quebec
Paul “Hardrock” Simpson, North Carolina; August Fager, Ohio
Arne Souminen, Illinois; Billy Bush, Massachusetts
Carrier, Quebec; F. X. Chasseur, Quebec
Gunnar Naslund, New York; Mike Kelly, Indiana
Dick Lesage, Quebec; Tom Figg, Ontario
Diabo, Quebec; F Goodleaf, Quebec
Harry Abramawitz, New York; Sammy Robinson, New Jersey
D. Chouinard, Quebec; L. Thoraval, Quebec

Twenty teams, 40 runners, would toe the start line. According to the prognosticators in Montreal, the pre-race favorite team was the American team of Joie Ray and Johnny Salo. Next favorite was Edouard Fabre or Canada and Ollie Wanttinen of Finland, and third, Arthur Newton and Peter Gavuzzi of the UK.

Please take the time to get to know these very talented and forgotten ultrarunners.

Favorites – American, Joie Ray and Johnny Salo

Ray and Solo had past experience as teammates, teaming together and winning a 1929 six-day relay race at Philadelphia against horses and other runners, reaching 523.3 miles. The Montreal newspaper stated, “Their athletic qualities are unquestioned. Salo demonstrating his stamina by winning the last (1929) C.C. Pyle trans-continental marathon while Ray, a great miler, and later a marathoner, has the speed to fend off challenges.”

Joie Ray (1894–1978) , age 36, of Chicago, Illinois, was a taxi cab driver. He was called “one of the world’s running marvels” and at that time “regarded as one of the greatest runners of all time” For years he was the greatest miler in America. He ran more than 50 races with a mile time better than 4:20. He won the one-mile and two-mile US championships many years and once held the world record for both one-mile and two-miles.. He ran at the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics. He also participated in a walkathon in 1928 for 1,730 hours.

Johnny Salo (1893-1931), age 37, born in Finland, from Passaic, New Jersey, was a policeman. He placed second in the 1928 Bunion Derby, and won the 1929 Derby by just 2 minutes 47 seconds ahead of Peter Gavuzzi (also entered). Each morning at dawn Salo would run 15 miles, prior to his 8-mile police beat. He was married, a father for two and his wife was crewing for him. He held the world’s six-day relay record. Teamed up with Sammy Richman (also entered), they ran 750 miles in six days at Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles in 1928.

Favorites – Edouard Fabre and Ollie Wanttinen

Communication would be a challenge for this team. Fabre spoke mostly French and Wanttinen spoke only Finish. At first communication between the two was “limited to admiring looks and friendly smiles.” During the race they would use an interpreter who spoke both French and Finnish. Fellow competitor, Arthur Newton said that he thought the Fabre-Wanttinen team had a “royal chance to win.”

Edouard Fabre (1885-1939), age 44, of Quebec, Canada, was referred to as the “grand old man of marathon running” and “the greatest Canadian long-distance runner who ever pulled on a shoe.” During the previous winter, Fabre won the Green Stripe 200-mile snowshoe race from Quebec to Montreal, leading from start to finish. He then toured theaters in the province of Quebec showing a film about the snowshoe race. By 1930 he had raced in 20 ultras and established many records and traditions. He ran the marathon in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and won the Boston Marathon in 1915 with 2:56.

Fabre was clearly the Canadian favorite. He stated, “I am fit and ready for the big race. I feel great and I am satisfied that my condition is everything that could be desired after the hard, long siege of training I have undergone. I am confident that victory will regard my efforts, barring accidents. However, I do not underestimate the prowess of the great many runners whom I am called to face, but I merely state that I think I am in good enough physical and mental condition to justify a victory on my part. I am certain that the race will justify the enormous amount of interest shown, not only by the running-loving public, but by the entire population of Montreal.”

Ollie Wanttinen, of Finland, from New York, was a great long-distance runner who was 5′ 2″, only about 92 pounds and called “Mighty Mite.” He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby and dropped out in Indiana after 41 days. He also ran in the 1929 Derby but again he didn’t finish.

Favorites – Arthur Newton and Peter Gavuzzi

Newton and Gavuzzi were probably the most experienced ultradistance runners in the field. They had previously teamed together in the 1929 Six-Day Man vs Horse Relay in Philadelphia and placed second, ahead of the horses, with 521.5 miles. In later years they would team up together in other events. A 2013 book was written about these two titled, Running For Their Lives: The Extraordinary Story of Britain’s Greatest Ever Distance Runners.

Arthur Newton (1883-1959), age 45, of Southampton England and South Africa was referred to as the “wonder man of running.” He had only been running competitively for eight years but had impressive wins at both the Comrades Marathon and London to Brighton, holding course records at both. In 1923 he broke the 50-mile world record with 5:53:50, in Durban. In 1928 he ran Bath to London (100-miles) in 14:22:10. He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby and held a big lead but had to pull out because of injury. He ran it again in 1929 but was hit by a car in Indiana and was badly injured.

Peter Gavuzzi (1905-1981), age 25, of Southampton, England, a ship’s steward, ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby. He led after 2,800 miles but had to drop out because of teeth problems. Returning to England he ran the 1000-mile Land’s End to John O’Groats. He won and set the course record. He ran in the 1929 Bunion Derby competing with Johnny Salo (also entered) most of the way. Salo beat him by only a few minutes. Gavuzzi once ran more than 1,000 miles in a month averaging 7 mph. In 1927 he won a 50-mile race in a skating rink, finishing in 5:14.

Other Americans

August Fager (1891-1967), age 36, was a Finish-American from Ashtabula, Ohio. In 1921, he won the 1000-meter South Finland Championship. He ran in the 1924 Paris Olympics for the U.S. on the cross-country team and won a team silver medal. (This was the last year cross-country was held in the Olympics.) He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby but quit in New Mexico when his trainer was disqualified because for breaking the rules.

Paul “Hardrock” Simpson (1904-1978), age 21, was from Burlington, North Carolina. He finished both Bunion Derbies, placing 36^th and 5^th and was famous for running against a horse in 1927. To read about his entire running career, click here.

Harry Abramowitz, age 23, of Brooklyn New York, had learned to walk fast as an errand boy. He began racing with the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which sponsored him in the 1928 Bunion Derby where he finished 11^th. He also finished 9th in the 1929 Bunion Derby. He won the first Baltimore Marathon and dueled with Joie Ray (also entered) at a 15-mile race in Montreal the previous winter.

“Smiling Sammy” Robinson (1896-1964), age 34, an African-American, was a former professional boxer from Atlantic City, New Jersey. He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby with no long distance experience. He was the most popular contestant in the race and still received fan mail in 1930. He finished in 45^th place. He ran against the horses in 1929, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He never smoked or drank alcohol and became a successful store operator in Atlantic City.

Dr. Arne Suominen (1900-1972), age 30, originally from Finland, was a physician from Chicago. He started the 1928 Bunion Derby and led for 1,000 miles into Oklahoma. Once he was caught by the eventual winner, he dropped out with a strained achilles tendon. He also ran in the 1929 Derby and dropped out early in Maryland. After the race he delivered lectures at athletic clubs all over the U.S. on the physical benefits of distance running. He had competed in many other professional long-distance races. (He would became the co-founder of the Pikes Peak marathon in 1956.)

Billy Bush, age 24, was from Boston, Massachusetts. He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby but didn’t finish. Once he ran in a race against a horse in Boston and won and also won a Boston Walkathon. He claimed a world record running backwards for 35 miles in 10 hours from Bridgeport to Greenwich. In 1929 he ran from Boston to New York.

Sammy Richman, of Los Angeles, was called “one of the greatest long-distance runners of all time.” He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby and finished in 44^th place. He returned to the Derby in 1929 and finished in 4^th. He teamed with Johnny Salo (also entered) in a six-day relay at Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles, setting a world relay record of 749 miles. Also a walkathoner, he claimed that he covered 1,000 miles in 585 hours, 1,500 miles in 1000 hours, and 2,105 miles in 1,453 hours.

Elmer Cowley, from Clifton, New Jersey, was a semi-professional baseball player with the Wessington A.C. club of Jersey City, and also played for the Clifton Firemen’s baseball team in the New Jersey Firemen’s Baseball League. He finished 13^th in 1929 Bunion Derby. He once won a 50-mile race.

Mike Kelly, age 22, was from Goshen, Indiana. He finished the 1928 Bunion Derby in 54^th place. He was an all-round athlete who had competed in boxing, wrestling and swimming events as well as running. In 1927, he ran/walked between Chicago and New York, 900 miles, in sixteen days at the age of 19, wearing out three pair of shoes.

Gunnar Naslund. age, 30, of New York, was a Swedish-American runner. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1923. He had previously run from New York to Philadelphia, 100 miles, in 22 hours and ran the 1929 six-day race against the horses in Philadelphia. In 1924 he finished the Boston Marathon in 16^th with 2:56.

Earl Lin Dilks (1895-1982), age 35, was a railroad fireman from Newcastle Pennsylvania. He claimed to be the world record holder at some obscure distances. In 1927 he ran 90 miles from Newcastle to Erie, Pennsylvania in 17 hours. He had recently run 100 miles in the streets of Willard, Pennsylvania with a time of 18:12:09, which he claimed to be the American 100-mile record. He ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby but dropped out near Chicago with about eight days to go because of foot trouble. On his last day he ran 82 miles in 13:14 which he claimed was a record. In 1929 he ran against a Model T Ford in 90-degree weather. The car only lasted 90 minutes.

Nestor Erickson (1897-1993), a Finnish-American was from Port Chester, New York, ran in the 1928 Bunion Derby and won several segments. He quit in Oklahoma, disenchanted running for an unlikely award at the finish. In 1923 he finished 5^th in the Boston Marathon and in 1925 he finished 8^th.

The Course

The course started at Fletcher’s Field in Montreal and then traveled to the towns of Granby, Sherbrooke, Victoriaville, Quebec, Three Rivers, Ste. Anne de la Perade, Joliette, and back in Montreal.

55 miles, Montreal to Granby
55 miles, Granby to Sherbrook
62 miles, Sherbrooke to Victoriaville
82 miles, Victoriaville to Quebec
59 miles, Quebec to Ste. Anne de la Pérade
29 miles, Ste. Anne de la Perade to Three Rivers
64 miles, Three Rivers to Joliette
26 miles, Montreal Stadium
71 miles, Exhibition running in the various towns (It doesn’t appear many of these exhibitions took place, or they were shorter than planned, so the race distance was likely close to 450 miles.)

Getting Ready to Race

Some of the runners arrived to Montreal several weeks before the race and trained there. All of them went through “rigid medical examinations” four days before the race. An American team from New Jersey, Alf Ross and Maurice Thompson, were pulled from the race due to Ross’s bad heart.

The big day for the race was July 20, 1930 at Fletcher’s Field (now Jeanne Mance Park) in Montreal. Dressing tents were set up for the runners to get ready. A band played for the thousands of spectators that lined both sides of the starting area which was across from the armories.

A big “squad” of “attendance automobiles” would drive with them including a car for each team, a bus for newspaper reporters, trucks for “sound-talkies” with their equipment, an ambulance, and other official cars. They went ahead 3.5 miles to the other side of the bridge leaving the city, waiting for the runners to arrive. Reporters included Pathe-News (British) and Fox Movie-tone (American) came along. Also local movie crews traveled with the huge group. Roads were closed down in the city with police officers patrolling the route.

Hugo Quist (1890-1941), known for being the trainer of legendary Finnish gold-medalist Olympian runner Paavo Nurmi, was hired to look after the physical welfare of the runners. He would supervise nutrition and the foot-care of the runners. Hugo would later train world champion skater Sonya Henie (1912-1969)

Day 1: Montreal to Granby

Sam Bronfman, President of the sponsor, Distillers Corporation, fired the starting gun. By rule, all the runners ran together through the city until they reached the “new bridge.” The “new bridge” was the current Jacques Cartier Bridge, opened just two months earlier, originally named, “Montreal Harbour Bridge” that went across the St. Lawrence River. The city streets were lined by thousands of cheering spectators.

After crossing over the bridge, the real race began. Runners switched out about every five miles. In about a mile after the bridge, J.B. Chouinard, from Montreal, a veteran of the Green Stripe 200-mile snowshoe race, became injured and couldn’t continue. His partner, L. Thoraval, also of Montreal, was allowed to continue for the rest of the way to Granby alone, about 50 more miles. He would finish about 4.5 hours after the winners of the stage, He would be able to find another partner, Dick Lessage from Montreal, when Tom Figg could not continue after stage one because of sore feet.

After about 55 miles, the leaders ran hard toward the stage finish at the local exhibition park in Granby where they were greeted by the mayor. Americans, Joie Ray and Johnny Salo won the first stage in 5:22, just a little more than a minute ahead of Newton and Gavuzzi. Third place went to the team of Fabre and Wanttinen, just ten seconds further back. All three of the predicted favorite times were proving so far that they were the teams to beat.

American teams of Richman and Cowley finished 8^th in 6:11, Simpson and Fager finished 13^th with 6:49, Souminen and Bush finished 14^th with 6:51, Naslund and Kelly 16^th with 7:32, and Abramawitz and Robinson finished 19^th with 8:10.

Day 2: Granby to Sherbrooke – 55 miles

Granby is a city located in a flat agricultural region on the Yamaska River that was dammed in 1815 by large industrial companies. In 1930, the city was starting to be rapidly developed and soon reached 10,000 residents. As the Depression was raging in America, several companies moved their plants to this city where the economic impact was not as harsh. The city was a great host to the race and the runners rested that first night, made adjustments, and prepared for the 8 a.m. morning start.

On the second day, race officials announced that the relay-switching rules had been changed. Runners on a relay leg could not switch until the first runner had covered at least five miles. This created confusion during the day until the teams figured it out. Nineteen teams started the second stage.

The Granby mayor fired the starting gun for the start of the 55-mile segment to Sherbrooke. Soon after the start, the McNamara-Dilks team went out and grabbed the lead for a while. The route went over “tortuous hilly country.” Rain fell heavily and made the dirt roads very nasty from mud for the first half of the route. But later the weather improved and the running became easier. At about mile 12, Newton took the lead and Gavuzzi increased it during his next relay leg. They were followed by McNamara-Dilks and Fabre-Wanttinen.

At Sherbrooke, Newton-Gavuzzi were the winners in 5:15, 17 minutes over Ray-Salo. McNamara-Dilks came in third. Newton-Gavuzzi took snatched the overall lead, 15 minutes ahead of Ray-Salo and 30 minutes ahead of Fabre-Wanttinen in third. The standings for the other American teams included, 9th: Richman-Cowley, 11th: Bush-Suominen, 12th: Fager-Simpson, 16th: Kelly-Naslund, and 17th: Abramowitz-Robinson more than five hours behind.

Day 3: Sherbrooke to Victoriaville – 62 miles

The Sherbrooke region is surrounded by hills, rivers, and lakes. Sherbrooke had been a manufacturing center since the 1800s. In 1930 it had a population of nearly 40,000 people and thousands came out to see the runners go through the city.

Four Canadian runners decided to drop out and the teams affected, shuffled their teams. Seventeen teams continued on for Day 3. Mayor A. C. Skinner fired the gun for the start of the third stage.

Between Sherbrooke and Victoriaville “the country is of a rugged nature and the toiling runners will be called on to plod up many steep hills.” The 62-mile hilly segment was indeed hard. Four teams took more the eleven hours to arrive in Victoriaville.

Newton and Gavuzzi again showed their dominance, covering the distance in 7:30, extending their overall lead to 30 minutes over Americans Joie Ray and Johnny Solo, who came in second. The Fabre-Wanttenin team was just over an hour behind overall.

After running a total of more than 170 miles, and because of this difficult stage, the effects were seen on many runners. Paul “Hardrock” Simpson, with sore feet decided to quit the race to make sure he didn’t injure himself with other races in his plans. August Fager was left seeking a new partner and teamed up with Swedish-American. August Naslund. Nuslund’s partner, Mike Kelly also dropped out. Four other Canadians dropped out. There were still twelve Americans and twelve Canadian in the race.

Day 4: Victoriaville to Quebec City – 82 miles

Victoriaville was a small city on the Nicolet River and along the Canadian National Railway. Maple and oak forests covered the area. It produced clothing, hardwood products including furniture, caskets and hockey sticks. Yes, hockey was popular in 1930. The Monteal Canadians beat the Boston Bruins a few months earlier to win the Stanely Cup.

Fourteen teams were still in the race. A total of twelve runners had dropped out so far. Surprisingly, two of the four amateurs who won free entries at the 15-mile race in Beaconsfield were still in it.

On the fourth stage, the teams were faced with the longest segment of the race, 82 miles. Because of its length, for this leg, runners could not switch out until they had covered at least ten miles.

At the twenty-mile mark, Peter Gavuzzi went into the lead with Joie Ray right behind him. Sammy Robinson was struggling so his partner, Harry Abramowitz ran a 30-mile leg. At 40 miles, Newton-Gavuzzi were in their familiar position in the lead. They kept extending it for the next twenty miles.

At Quebec Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River, Newton had a six-mile lead over the next runner. The bridge at that time was the second longest in the world, had taken many years to be built because of collapses, and cost 88 lives during its construction.

Newton continued to the fourth straight stage victory for the Newton-Gavuzzi team. Canadian favorite, Edouard Fabre pushed into second and received a huge welcome by the crowds along the route to Quebec City. He had been shouldering most of the work for his team because Ollie Wanttinen had been suffering from a stomach illness, but was finally feeling better. The Americans, Joie Ray and Johnny Salo were tiring.

After the fourth stage, the overall podium standings were Newton-Gavuzzi, Ray-Solo, 1:33 back, and Fabre-Wanttinen 1:58 back.

Day 5: Quebec to Ste. Anne de la Pérade – 59 miles

Quebec City, officially known as “Quebec” is the capital of the province of Quebec that sits on the north side of the St. Lawrence River. In 1930 the population was about 160,000 people. It is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. French explorer Jacques Cartier built a fort at the site in 1535 and it was founded as a town in 1608.

Newton and Gavuzzi again took control of the stage about twenty miles in. A ten-mile switch rule was still in force as they ran on the north side of the St. Lawrence River. Ray and Salo had trouble with their feet as did nearly all the runners. Fabre ran strong and would regain position each time he took his turn running from Wanttinen, who had a sore leg.

The podium standings stayed the same. 1. Newton-Gavuzzi, 2. Ray-Salo 1:47 back. 3. Fabre-Wanttinen 2:12 back. The newspaper reporters were predicting that first place was in the bag, but the race for second was still up for grabs.

The other American teams still in it were 6. Richman-Cowley 5:57 back. 10. Suominen-Bush 9:30 back. 13. Abramowitz-Robinson 15:52 back. 14. Fager-Naslund 18:31.

Day 6: Ste. Anne de la Pérade to Three Rivers – 29 miles

Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade is a small town located near the mouth of the Sainte-Anne River. It is the world capital of Tommy Cod fishing. The centrepiece of the town is the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade Church, a Catholic church near the banks of the Sainte-Anne River.

The runners enjoyed extra rest in the morning because of a planned late start at 11:30 a.m. With only 26 miles for the 6^th stage it seemed like a sprint, and similar to a Tour de France sprint stage finish, because six teams finished within five minutes of each other. For a change Newton-Gavuzzi finished in sixth, and the American team of Suominen-Bush were the victors for the stage by 20 seconds. They ran the stage in 3:24. There was no change to the overall standings.

Three Rivers in 1930 with its wide roads

Several of the Candadians were highly motivated by this stage because they ran by or through their home towns. Idela Gauthier, a veteran of the Green Stripe snowshoe race, sprinted through his town of Cap de lap Madeleine to pull into second place, to the cheers of 5,000 people. The town of Three Rivers had made this day a civic holiday to let the townspeople enjoy watching the race. When the runners arrived at the exhibition grounds, they ran five more miles around a half-mile track to end the stage.

Three Rivers, now called Trois-Rivières, is a medium-sized city at the confluence of the Saint Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers. In 1634, it was the second permanent settlement by French colonists, after Quebec City. Most of the city had been destroyed by fire in 1908. For reconstruction, the roads were widened and the city was modernized. The city is about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. In the 1930s the city was known as the pulp and paper industry capital of the world with five mills in operation.

Day 7: Three Rivers to Joliette – 64 miles.

The newspaper in Montreal did not put out Sunday issues, so there were few details published. The Fabre-Wanttinen team won the stage convincingly and pulled within 3 minutes and 20 seconds of second place Ray-Salo. But Newton and Gauvzzi basically clinched the overall victory by finishing the stage with an overall two hour, sixteen minute lead.

Joie Salo said that during the race they had all the oatmeal, water, beer, sandwiches, and cake to eat. “But you’ve got to eat during these long races, because they take so much energy out of the body that it’s got to be replaced.” He also mentioned, “I like the way people come up along side in their cars to chat as we’re running along the roads. It’s interesting to watch the license numbers too. There were cars from all over the United States following the race.”

Day 8 – Montreal Baseball Stadium – 26.2 miles

Montreal Stadium, also known as Delorimier Stadium was opened in 1928 and was the home of the Montreal Royals, which would become a farm club for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It held 20,000 spectators. At the time it was considered as a better stadium than many of the major league stadiums.

The runners were brought by automobile from Joliette to the stadium for the final stage to run a marathon in the stadium. The relay rules for this stage required the runners to exchange every mile. Similar to the final day in Paris for the Tour de France, the last stage was just a formality for the overall winner. But for second place, the race was still on, with only about four minutes separating the next two teams.

The Gazette newspaper (Montreal) set the stage, “The runners, starting out under clouded skies and the gaze of ten thousand spectators, ended the first ten miles with a blazing sun shining down through a humid atmosphere and to the cheers of a through that had increased to 18,000 people. Plodding steadily around the quarter-mile circuit, the runners changed every four turns (mile) and at every burst of speed from a competitor trying to pass another, there was a roar from the crowd that equaled any that has ever marked a home run at the ball park.”

The crowd clearly favored their hometown man, Fabre, hoping that he could make up the four minutes he was behind in the overall standings to claim second place. He was “the magnet for all eyes and every time he made a move to increase his position, it was the occasion for spontaneous cheering from the closely packed gathering. Wanttinen, too, his short legs carrying his 110-pound body easily over the turf, earning his share of applause but despite the generous support of the gathering, he and his partner were unable to match the strides with the effortless running of Newton and Gavuzzi.”

The winners, Peter Gavuzzi and Arthur Newton

“Newton, bronzed and toughened, dressed in long white shorts and white sweater, and Gavuzzi, sweat dripping from his short mustache, his legs moving like clockwork soon took the lead and after the first mile they were never headed. They completed the [stage] in 2:18:40, six laps ahead of blonde Joie Ray, famous miler and marathoner, and Johnny Salo, the New Jersey policeman who won one of C. C. Pyle’s cross-continental marathons. Ray and Salo covered the distance in 2:23:30, leading Edouard Fabre, great French-Canadian runner and Ollie Wanttinen, smiling five-foot-two Finn, to the tape by just two minutes.

The final standings and times for the 450 miles or so were:

48:04:00 Newton-Gavuzzi
50:24:38 Ray*-Salo*
50:29:55 Fabre^-Wanttinen
52:03:20 McNamara-Dilks*
54:23:10 Ouellette^-Desroches^
54:39:30 Gauthier^-Laflamme^
55:06:45 Richman*-Cowley*
57:02:20 Granville^-Hoey^
59:50:28 Ellis^-Nester*
62:01:25 Suominen*-Bush*
65:16:17 Carrier^-Bernier^
67:25:47 Abramowitz*-Robinson*
68:33:10 Colin^-Lebrun^
70:47:30 Fager*-Naslund*

* Americans ^Canadians

After all of the runners finished, they were able to sit down in a shady spot to watch the two-mile 200-pound sandbag race. Gavuzzi commented, “Well, by golly, now we can watch somebody else doing some work.” Newton seated beside him was puffing on his pipe and Gavuzzi pulled out a long cigar in celebration.

During the running of the two-mile sandbag race, a bench collapsed under the weight of a row of people standing on it and started a panic that stopped the sandbag race for more than a half hour. People were thrown against others in front of them, and those in front were in turn sent crashing against those below them. Many tried to leave their seats as panic set in. It spread like wildfire and people rushed for the exits. Some yelled “fire” and others screamed “the stand’s collapsed.” Hundreds ran onto the field. Seven people were injured with bad bruises and there were two cases of broken bones. Policemen and ushers finally brought some order but it took 20 minutes. The band played music to calm things down.

That evening at the Palace Theatre, the prizes were awarded and the running heroes were cheered. The next day the podium winners were the guests at a lunch with the sports writers of Montreal at the Mount Royal Hotel put on by the race’s sponsor. More than 50 guests listened to stories from the runners. It was also announced there that in just ten days a 26-hour race would be held at the Baseball Stadium involving many of the race competitors. Clearly the sponsor wanted to generate more spectator money. One must wonder if the runners were very excited about participating. They indeed were hesitant and first wanted to know what would be in it for them.

The 26-hour race consisted of six two-man relay teams against six two-jockey teams on thoroughbred race horses. Twelve of the Peter Dawson finishers signed up. Organizers brought in large flood lights for the night hours and put down a layer of bark for the horse track. In the end, the team of McNamara-Wanttinen won with 225 miles which was thought to be a 26-hour relay world record. Fabre-Ray came in second, beating the horses by nine miles. About half-way through the race, Arthur Newton cramped up terribly and the crowd rudely yelled for him to quit. He soon could barely walk and withdrew from the competition.

Eventually the runners returned to their homelands. The Peter Dawson Relay had been a huge success for the runners, the sponsors, the spectators, and for the sport that one day would be called ultrarunning. Many of the runners returned in to Canada in 1931 to run the second edition of the Peter Dawson Relay where Newton and Gavuzzi successfully defended their title.

Arthur Newton went on to set the world 24-hour world record in 1931 of 152 miles. Peter Gavuzzi went on to set the record in a 1,000-mile race in Scotland. Jolie Ray was inducted into the U.S. National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Johnny Salo died in 1931 when he was hit by a baseball on his head while managing a crowd at a baseball game. Edouard Fabre was inducted in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

7: The 1930 500-mile Peter Dawson Relay

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