John C. Lorden -First Irish winner of Boston Marathon

With the 2016 running of the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago, just a brief look back at the first ever Irish winner of that race.
John C. Lorden having been born just outside of Bandon in 1876 found himself like many Irish at the time heading to U.S.A. in search of work and settled in Massachusetts. Working as a shipping agent for a manufacturing company in Cambridge, he was only able to train at night because of his job. However he soon found himself one of the top distance runners of his generation. As the start of the Boston Marathon in 1903 he was reported as feeling unwell at the start of the race and ignored doctors orders that he should not compete, so he took his place at the start line with an impressive list of quality marathoners.
Among the other runners was John Caffrey who won in 1900 and 1901, Samuel Mellor who was the defending champion as well as as 2 future winners in Spring (1904) and Lorz (1905). However Lorden was not overawed by he had previously featured well in the race, placing 5th in 1901 and 3rd in 1902.
Once Lorden put to rest the leg cramps that had bothered him early in the race, he began his pursuit of the leaders and caught defending champion Mellor with less than three miles to go and won by nearly six minutes in 2:41:29.
The race certainly captured the imagination of the press at the time.
Boston Daily Globe ran the headline “Marathon Run a Race of Marvels” while the Boston Evening Transcript called the race “Greatest of Marathon Runs”
Lorden the following year became one of the many Irish born athletes of the era who competed for the USA in the Olympics. At the 1904 Summer Olympics in St Louis, condition were very warm during the marathon and Lordon was reported to have begun vomiting within the first half mile of the race and unfortunately he did not finish the competition. He was not alone in failing to finish the 1904 marathon as they were competing in terrible conditions. The temperature was 90 degrees and the race was held on a hilly, dusty roads with uneven footing, and traffic regularly passing by. Fresh water was available at only two places in the course with the eventual winner being reported as being revived by a shot of brandy during the race!
In 1905 Lorden again featured in the Boston Marathon finishing in 12th place in a time of 2.57.51
Lorden is also recording as being one of just 2 participants in the first ever marathon held in Newfoundland in 1909. The race was held in a stadium with 6 laps of the track for every mile it was an incredible 150 laps. Despite being just 2 runners involved, due to the high profile of those runners, the race attracted thousands of spectators into the stadium. The lead changed hands many times but finished with Lorden being beaten by McDonald who was one of the top marathoners of the time.
Lorden’s younger brother Joseph also contested a number of Boston Marathons, he finished 10th in 1911, 7nd in 1913, and 3rd in 1914 in a time of 2.28.42
Lorden while delighted with the opportunities afforded to him in the USA, remained proud of his Irish heritage and his Bandon roots just as Bandon is rightly proud of him and his achievements.
Bandon A.C. commemorated the 1903 achievements of Lorden with a monument in Bandon.

(Thanks to his grand daughter for the photo of the race finish and of the clock.)