The "Bunion Derby" of 1928

Keywords: Bunion, Run Across America, Ultra Running

The Story: Long before endurance sports and ultra running (running distances longer than the standard marathon) became popular, there was "The Great American Foot Race" a.k.a. the "Bunion Derby". Now this is my kind of race. Yes, this is partly because I have bunions, but mostly because it was so progressive, outlandish, and extreme for it's day. There were no Nike sponsorships (or shoes!) back then, no Dean Karnazes to champion the sport, and no Chris Carmichael to train athletes. There was just this: a foot race across America, and a group of folks daring enough to try it. On March 4, 1928 199 runners left Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles, and over two months later, on May 26th, 55 runners arrived in Madison Square Garden. While averaging 40 miles per day, the daily runs ranged from 17 miles to approximately 75 miles. Incredible! The winner was 19 year old Oaklahoma native Andy Payne; however the age range of the runners was between 16 and 63. Thankfully, the top 10 runners received a monetary prize for this extreme effort. Andy used his money to buy his parents a house, and himself a car and some land. After that, he never ran again. As for the bunions? The race was aptly named by the press. Repetitive pounding on the feet, coupled with poor biomechanics can cause the bones of the feet to rearrange a bit as seen in this picture. (Nothing a little prize money wouldn't cover.)

Read more:
http://www.itvs.org/footrace/index.htm