Ronald MacDonald

Ronald John MacDonald (September 19, 1874 – September 3, 1947) was a Canadian runner, best known as the winner of the second Boston Marathon, in 1898. He later became a successful physician in Nova Scotia. Early life MacDonald was born in Fraser's Grant, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. His father died at sea when MacDonald was twelve years old, after which his mother relocated the family to Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, where relatives were living. MacDonald worked as a telephone lineman for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, and later in the family lunch store on Cambridge Street. In 1895, he joined the Cambridgeport Gymnasium Association with his brother Alexander. In 1897, he enrolled at Boston College as a special student. Running First marathon On April 19, 1898, MacDonald was one of 24 runners who gathered in Ashland, Massachusetts, to start the second Boston Marathon. He was tall and weighed , and had curly light hair. It was his first marathon and he raced in bicycle shoes. MacDonald ran the race conservatively waiting for the leaders to fall off the pace. Till the half-way mark, he raced behind the leaders, then he started pushing the pace. He chased Hamilton Gray, the New York cross-country champion, through the downhills in the later part of the race and passed him in the last couple of miles. MacDonald ran the whole way without taking any fluids. He ended up finishing in 2:42, the fastest of 15 finishers, three minutes faster than Gray, 13 minutes faster than the previous year’s time, and a time considered a world best at the time for a distance of about . MacDonald and Gray shook hands after the race.