Three runners who made their mark

Pictured are three legendary runners who are renowned in Pictou County: Jimmy Hawboldt, left, Roy Oliver and Johnny Miles. An interesting note is they all lived relatively long lives: Hawboldt (1904-98) was 93; Oliver (1908-90) 82 years; and Miles (1905-2003) 97 years. Running might well have proven a healthy activity in more ways than one, since Hawboldt worked in the coal mines, as did Miles at a very early age. Oliver’s father, John Henry Oliver, also worked in coal mines.

This Waldren’s photo was reported to have been taken at an Antigonish track race in 1930.

Jimmy Hawboldt was born in Westville and became Nova Scotia’s top five-mile runner in the 1920s. During his life he worked as a coal miner and at Thompson and Sutherlands and at Canadian Tire in New Glasgow. He passed away in the Northumberland Veterans Unit at Pictou in 1998. He will be remembered for his fivemile win against Johnny Miles on Sept. 10, 1926. He was also a veteran of the Second World War.

Roy Oliver was born in Lingan, Cape Breton, in 1908 and resided in New Glasgow. He was a famed middle-distance runner, winning several 10-mile races during his prime in the 1930s. He was a retired conductor with the CNR and in 1990 passed away in the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow. Oliver’s father, John Henry Oliver, was born in New Glasgow.

Johnny Miles was born in England in 1905 and grew up in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton. He twice won the Boston Marathon: in 1926 (time 2.25.40) and 1929 (2.33.08) and ran Olympics marathon races representing Canada in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. Near the Boston Marathon finish line are two plaques on ground level commemorating his two victories.

Miles died in Hamilton, Ont., in 2003. Hawboldt, Oliver and Miles were inducted at the same time, in 1980, into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. Hawboldt and Oliver were both inducted into the Pictou County Sports Heritage Hall of Fame.