Remembering Canada’s Pioneering Ultrarunner, Al Howie

Canada’s all-t ime greatest ult ramarat hon runner Al Howie passed away June 21, 2016 in Duncan, B.C. He was 70 years old and had been in declining health for a number of years, primarily due to diabetes. He died 25 years to the day from the start of his greatest achievement – an epic run across Canada where he averaged running 101.7 kilometres per day. Starting i n St . John’s, N. L ., on June 21, 1991, he arrived in Victoria, on Sept. 1. During his cross-country run he covered 7,295.5 kilometres in 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes. The distance he ran daily was the equivalent twoand-a-half marathons, but he didn’t stop there. Two weeks after his run across Canada he broke the Sri Chimnoy 2,100-kilometre record in New York. Both events are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Howie raced in the same marathon that Terry Fox finished that inspired his cross-Canada adventure, the Marathon of Hope in Prince George. First, Howie ran from Victoria to Prince George, which is a run distance of over 800 kilometres; he raced the marathon, and then ran back.

Howie once ran from Victoria to Edmonton, a distance of 1,200 kilometres then raced the Edmonton Marathon and then ran home again. Another time he ran from Winnipeg to Ottawa, which is approximately 2,200k to compete in a 2 4-hour endurance race, and he won it.

He won more than 50 marathons and ultramarathons. His marathon personal best is 2:28:11.

He once raised $750,000 for children with disabilities, by running an ultramarathon. Howie took up running when he and his wife split in 1973. He once wrote, “I run on resentment, angrily pounding the blacktop. Mostly, I plod on because I have committed myself to this asphalt insanity and I simply don’t know how to quit.”– CK