Newton, Ballinger and McNamara 1937

Mike McNamara was born in c.1888. He had been a farmer in Australia, and it seems likely that he had been forced by circumstances to emigrate to New York sometime before 1927. He had backed a business in New York with his entire wealth, only to be let down by his partner. He was broke and the 1928 Trans-Continental footrace (first Bunion Derby) offered him the opportunity to earn a huge purse.

As a young man in central Queensland, he competed in races from 440 yards to 10 miles. Unfortunately, being a big man, over six feet tall and big boned, he needed more time to get into shape than the imminent race allowed.

In 1928, along with 200 others from all over the world, he contested the Great American Transcontinental Footrace run across America from Los Angeles to New York, via Chicago, to promote the opening of Route 66. Among them was Herbert Hedeman, a fellow Australian, who was living in one room in New York with his wife and five children. He was some five inches shorter than McNamara.

The race started at Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles and finished in Madison Square Garden in New York City. 199 runners left Los Angeles, California on March 4th, 1928 at 3:30 p.m. 55 runners finished on May 26th, 1928. Only men were allowed to enter the race. The race took 84 days to run from coast to coast. The Bunion Derby followed Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago. From Chicago to New York City the race ran wherever the promoter, C.C. Pyle, could get the town to pay a fee. Dr. K.H. Begg, a prominent medical expert, predicted that the race would take five to ten years off the runners’ lives. The runners ran an average of 40 miles a day, nearly the equivalent of two marathons. The shortest distance they ran was the first day, 17 miles from Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles to Puente, California. The longest distance was 74.6 miles from Waverly, New York to Deposit, New York, the 79th day. The race ran from California through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennyslvania, New Jersey and New York. The race covered a total of 3,422.3 miles (5505 kms).

A training camp was set up at the Ascot Speedway on the eastern edge of Los Angeles, California. Runners were required to report to camp by February 12th, 1928 “for final conditioning for the race.” It was reported that there were over 400 initial entrants. Fewer than 200 reported at Ascot. When the Official Program was printed there were 249 entrants listed. On March 4, 1928, when the bomb went off, there were 199 runners who actually crossed the starting line. The runners were subjected to a strict training schedule that started at 6 a.m. After breakfast they ran 25 to 50 miles to prepare for the promised 40 to 75 miles a day. Lunch was served at noon and the afternoon was also devoted to more training. Dinner was served at 6 p.m. and the runners were allowed to relax and have their injuries treated before lights out at 9 p.m. The official program called the arrangements for feeding the runners a “traveling cafeteria deluxe." They were promised eggs, cereal, toast and fruit for breakfast and “soup, salad, roast or boiled meat, several vegetables, both cooked and raw, a dessert and all the milk, tea and coffee desired” for dinner. Harry Sheare #123, told the newspaper: “Pyle pulled the best one three weeks before we started. He notified all runners that they must assemble in Ascot Park, Los Angeles, to train and then for three weeks charged each man 50 cents per night for bed and 50 cents for each meal.”

During the race itself, the runners’ times were clocked daily. All runners started at the same time and they had to reach a designated checkpoint. As each runner crossed the checkpoint, his time was logged. Each day’s time was added to the last. The fastest cumulative time would win the race.

Runners who failed to reach the checkpoint by midnight were disqualified.

In the 1920’s amateur athletes represented the purity of the sport, and the Olympic games exemplified this spirit. The runners who entered the Transcontinental Foot Race had little concern for their amateur standing, considering the chance to win $25,000 well worth the loss of their amateur status. To put things in perspective, the Ford Motor Company was paying factory workers $1,200 per year at the time. The winner’s prize thus represented 20 years' wages.

The runners ranged in age from 16 to 63 and came from all over the world. Some of the runners left jobs to run the race; others ran just to be able to say they did, but for the most part the runners were men who had nothing to lose.

McNamara ran until March 15 when he withdrew at Williams, Arizona  “unable to continue”. Interestingly, on March 15 the leg from Kingman to Peach Springs AZ included a rise in elevation of 2,000 feet. Many runners withdrew at that point, reducing the field to one half the original numbers.

In the 1929 Transcontinental Foot Race McNamara and Hedemann entered again, this time having built their own motorised caravan to support them.

Hedeman won the 5th stage of 37 miles from Wilmington to Havre de Grace in 4:44:45 to lead the race on cumulative time. Mc Namara made a more cautious start but by the 16th day he was lying in 8th place, one ahead of Hedeman. They were to stay in these position for stage after stage, with McNamara moving up to 7th by Day 40, and Hedeman in 9th. The two men seldom won a stage, but were solid and consistent.

A good day was on the 56th stage when Guisto Umek won the 34.4 miles from Van Horn to Sierra Blanca with Hedeman and McNamara in joint  third in  4:58:10. Hedeman pushed harder over the next ten days and moved up to 8th, but was still around 10 hours behind McNamara. They were to finish in those postions. McNamara in  7th  and in the money, with an elapsed time of 627:45:28 and Hedeman in 8th in 631:23:48. The expected prize money of $US2,000 and $US1,750 respectively, never materialised.

McNamara had met the great South African runner Arthur Newton in the inaugural Trans Continental race. Newton had led the race until March 18 but was forced to withdraw because of a strained ankle and achilles tendonitis. Newton was a 5 times winner of the Comrades marathon in South Africa from 1922 to 1927 and was the holder of every amateur running record from 29 to 100 miles. He was 44 years of age at the time of the first Trans America Race and was passed up for the previous two Olympic games because the 26 mile marathon was too short for him.

Following the Trans-Continentals, a professional circuit of indoor marathons, six-day races against horses, six-day two-man team races and snowshoe races existed in the Eastern United States and Canada. Mike McNamara was able to make a living from this, operating as part of a network of the hard core Pyle pedestrians. In July 1929 the Peter Dawson 500 miler took place, with McNamara in the field. In 1930 the Distillers Corporation in Montreal sponsored a 200 mile Usher Green Stripe Marathon snowshoe race. McNamara finished fifth. Newton organised an indoor track race in Hamilton Ontario Canada in April 1931. In that race, Newton set a new world best for 24 hours of 152 miles 540 yards (245.113 kms). In the same race, McNamara ran 3:13:29.0 for a new 30 miles and 4:31:31.0 for a new 40 miles world records.

The Great Depression was to force the end of this short-lived experiment in professional athletics. McNamara retained his interest in the sport and was involved as a handler and supporter when Hardy Ballington came to the United Kingdom in May 1937. He was still in shape at that stage, but his later career is unknown. As a professional he would have been unable to compete among the amateurs, and the openings for a professional athlete were limited.

Pete Gavuzzi became a notable coach, with Walter Young and Gerard Cote, winners of the Boston, among his proteges. He actually went to the Sydney Empire Games with his runners, and had difficulty getting back into Canada. Arthur Newton became a major influence on the development of coaching ideas and was instrumental in the revival of the London to Brighton and the formation of the Road Runners Club.

It is therefore likely that Mike McNamara also turned his expertise to good use, and may have been involved in advising younger marathon runners.

Researched and compiled by ultra historian, Andy Milroy