Ultrarunning History

45: Dave Kunst – Walk Around the World – Part 2

January 24, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:40 — 41.8MB)

By Davy Crockett

This is the second part of the Dave Kunst story. Read/Listen/Watch to Part 1 here.

Dave Kunst, originally from Minnesota, now from California, claims that he was “the first person verified to have completed circling the entire land mass of the earth on foot.” Kunst’s 1970-74 walk has historic importance for the modern-era of ultra-distance walking. I believe that Konstantin Rengarten was actually the first in 1894-1898 (See Part 3). I will show that Kunts’ “verified” claim is dubious, but his amazing walk did happen, and the story is fascinating and exciting. But at what cost to those who believed in him? With the end just days away, everything seemly fell apart.

In 1970, Dave Kunst of Waseca, Minnesota, started a walk around the world with his brother John. Part 1 of this story covered their travels east to New York, by plane to Portugal, and then on foot with a mule to Afghanistan where John was shot and killed by bandits. Dave was wounded and returned to Minnesota to recover in November 1972.

Dave felt strongly that the walk should be continued, and he deeply wanted to get back on the road to experience an exciting and free life, without family, job, or financial obligations. He said, “The walk will definitely go on. I want to keep the ball rolling. I will be back to finish what my brother and I started so he will not have died for nothing.”

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44: Dave Kunst – Walk Around the World – Part 1

January 17, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:11 — 39.3MB)

By Davy Crockett

Who was the first person to truly walk around the world? If your search the Internet the answer that come back is: Dave Kunst, an American who claimed to do it in 1970-1974. Dave Kunst, originally from Minnesota, claims that he is “the first person verified to have completed circling the entire land mass of the earth.”

The previous parts of this series have hopefully taught the reader to be very skeptical of such claims. Is his claim true? Did he really walk around the entire world in 1970-1974? Was he the first? Was it truly independently verified, and how? Well, with any such bold claims there are problems with it, even if Guinness was at some point convinced to include it in their record book.

The Kunst tale must be told and it will be covered in two parts. He was not the first to walk around the world. Konstantin Rengarten of Belarus and Latvia was the first in 1894-1898. (See Part 3). But I believe Kunst was the first to walk around the “world” in the modern, post-war era. His walk had the usual route and verification issues as other globetrotters before him. Kunst published a 1979 book about his walk, that is difficult to read. I will tell the tale primarily from the hundreds of newspaper articles published between 1970-1974, and I chose to not use addition tales from his book that were full of ego, which were not mentioned in the newspapers.

Dave Kunst’s walk inspired and entertained hundreds of thousands of people who witnessed it, read about it in the newspapers, and heard about it on television and radio. But sadly, the walk left within its wake, tragedy, death, heartbreak, deception, and betrayal. Thousands around the world thought the purpose of the Kunst walk was to support a humanitarian cause and they freely financially supported him. But actually, the walk was motivated by a man with a huge ego and with selfish intentions. The truth eventually came out and it surprised and disappointed many people with a shocking ending. Nevertheless, the walk happened, and in the decades that followed, Kunst would inspire thousands of youngsters to dare to fulfil their dreams.

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43: Walking Backwards Around the World – Part 6

January 3, 2020

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:42 — 37.4MB)

By Davy Crockett

Attempts to walk backwards for ultra-distances has taken place for more than two centuries. Why? One backwards walker once said, “With the whole world going backwards, maybe the only way to see it is to turn around.” Obviously, such attempts caused a stir of attention. Common comments heard around these individuals were, “What is that fool doing?” and “When did he get out of the asylum?” In recent years some have actually encouraged the practice as a way to burn more calories, sharpen senses, train your peripheral vision, and improve balance. But walking backwards for hundreds and thousands of miles is simply bizarre. Let’s first take a look at the very early history of walking backwards for ultra-distances and then examine the stories of attempts to walk backwards across America and around the world.

Get Davy Crockett’s new book, Strange Running Tales: When Ultrarunning was a Reality Show

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Kevin Setnes inducted into American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame

December 19, 2019

Kevin in 1997 after winning the 100k national championship

Kevin Setnes, of Eagle, Wisconsin, is the 2019 inductee into The American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame, its 17th member.

Kevin Setnes’ running career began at Bloom Township High School in Illinois, where he ran cross-country and track, distinguishing himself with a best of 9:40 for the 2-mile run. The then entered the U.S. Navy and spent the next 6 years serving in the U.K. and Italy, where he took advantage of the opportunity to compete in European track, cross-country, and road races in the 1970’s. He gravitated to the longer distances and became a 3-time winner of the annual USAFE (U.S. Armed Forces in Europe) marathon, with a best time of 2:23:43.

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42: Around the World on Foot – Part 5 – Dumitru Dan

December 16, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:08 — 41.3MB)

By Davy Crockett

During the early 1900s, hundreds of people were claiming falsely that they were walking around the world and were given free room and board by the trusting public as they came into towns. Nearly every “around the world on foot” walker mentioned a wager as their motivation for making the attempt, similar to Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg’s wager in his 1872 novel “Around the World in 80 Days.” More than 95% of these globetrotters made claims that were false.

Beginning about 1904, a new twist emerged. A few of the globetrotters claimed that they were part of a race or competition with others to be the first to circle the globe on foot within a certain period. Such a competitive event created a stir of interest when walkers came into town. Wow, it sounded like the modern-day “Amazing Race” reality show.

One common thread involving these race claims was that they were organized by the “Touring Club de France.” Did this organization really get involved in Pedestrian races? One participant in such a race was a famous Romanian globetrotter, Dumitru Dan. Numerous articles about him in recent years claim that he was the first person to walk around the world and he is considered a Romanian local hero. Was he truly a participant in a race and did he really walk 62,000 miles around the world as he claimed? For the first time, this will be examined closely. First, I will analyze carefully Dumitru Dan’s walking story which he sadly fabricated. It was not true. Then I will examine the similar false race tales of others.

The story of Dumitru Dan and other globetrotters is told in the new book by Davy Crockett, Around the World On Foot: The Early Globetrotters.

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41: Around the World on Foot – Part 4 – The Bizarre

December 4, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:07 — 37.7MB)

By Davy Crockett

Before returning to more serious ultrarunning history, three more “around the world on foot” tales must be told. These stories are so bizarre that they are hard to believe, but they did happen. These individuals gave up years of their lives to gather attention by walking thousands of miles enduring much hardship. Eventually as world conflict exploded into World War I, much of what the public thought was nonsense, disappeared for a time.

These three stories involved a “masked walker,” an English man who tried to walk around the world in an iron mask. Also, an Austrian man who tried to push his family in a baby carriage around the world. And finally, the “king of the casks”, two Italians who tried to roll a giant barrel around the world. While wager conditions surrounding all three were hoaxes, the extreme walking efforts that took place were genuine. Attention was given worldwide to their efforts. Commenting on one of them, it was written, “He is one of the oddest of the cranks that have started to go around the earth.”

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40: Around the World on Foot – Part 3 (1894-1899)

November 26, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:35 — 34.9MB)

By Davy Crockett

During the very late 1800s, people from various countries started to attempt to walk around the world for attention, money, and fame. In Part 2 of this series on walking around the world, I shared many stories of “fakes” who took advantage of the American public by traveling around the Midwest United States claiming to be on treks around the world, but making little or no effort to actually leave the States.

However, others at that time made more sincere attempts and successfully did extended walking on multiple continents, accompanied by newspaper stories confirming their presence in different countries. Several walkers were well-educated and certainly not the typical tramps and drunks that were highlighted in Part 2. Some of the individuals covered in this article became famous as explorers and were given credit for conducting valid walks around the world. But did they actually do it? What was their motivation for spending months and years in this activity? What did they do with their lives after their walk? Here are five intriguing stories of individuals who became very famous. They were a Russian, a Frenchman, a Greek. and two Americans.

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39: Around the World on Foot – Part 2 (1894-96)

November 20, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:30 — 36.6MB)

By Davy Crockett

In Part 1 of this series, about walking around the world, I covered the very early attempts. By 1894, dozens, if not hundreds of walkers, started to participate in an “around the world on foot” craze. For many it was a legitimate ultrawalking attempt, but for most it was just a scam to travel on other people’s generous contributions.

The typical scam went like this: They claimed that they were trying to walk around the world to win thousands of dollars on a wager, but they had to do it without bringing any money. They needed to be funded through the generosity of others, get free room and board, and free travel on ships. Walkers came out of the woodwork and the newspapers were fascinated by these attempts.

Eventually some in the press started to get wise. These walkers started to be referred derisively as tramps, globetrotters, cranks, fools, or “around the world freaks.” One reporter wrote, “A great majority of these wanderers upon the face of the earth are men who would rather do anything than work.” Another astute reporter identified many of these walkers as “frauds, traveling over the country practicing a smooth game in order to be wined and dined.”

Sprinkled in with these self-promoting frauds were also those who were legitimately striving to circle the globe on foot. Their efforts were real and very hard. They underestimated the difficulty involved yet had amazing experiences. There were too many of these “globetrotters” to even list. This article will share some amazing and bizarre tales of the naive, those that failed, the cheats, and the fakers. In the next article, I will share stories about successful walks around the world.

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