JFK 50 Mile: 50 Miles, 20 Hours and a Kennedy Challenge

01JFK 50 Mile History Starts with a 1908 Order

It all begins under Theodore Roosevelt. On December 9, 1908, a presidential executive order requires Marine Corps captains and lieutenants to pass a walking test: 50 miles, spread over three days, in 20 hours of actual walking, breaks included. With a stretch at a run thrown in. And it has to be repeated every two years.

02Who Dug the Order Back Up?

More than half a century later, the text resurfaces. Who dug it up? Kennedy himself, according to Ultrarunning History, which says he asked Marine commandant David Shoup to take credit for finding it. Shoup, according to the U.S. Army, who sent it to the president. In February 1963, Marine officers take the test at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, behind a brigadier general. Twenty were expected, 34 start, according to Ultrarunning History.

The story goes around the press. Kennedy never issued a direct challenge to the public, the same source notes. No matter: across the country, Americans set off, often with no training.

03Bobby in Dress Shoes

On February 9, 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy walks 50 miles along the C&O Canal towpath with his dog Brumis. He goes in dress shoes, through slush, and finishes in 17 hr 50 min. At the end: “I'm a little stiff, but that's natural, never having walked 50 miles before.”

04Three Kids and Buzz Sawyer

On March 30, 1963, Buzz Sawyer organizes his own 50-mile walk for his club, the Cumberland Valley Athletic Club, based in Hagerstown, Maryland. The start is in Boonsboro. Ten kids and he hit the road. His youngsters are “supposed to be in good shape and that’s what I intend to find out,” he says, according to Ultrarunning History.

Three boys, James Ebberts, Steve Costion and Rick Miller, finish with him in 13 hr 10 min. Four others drop out at mile 42.1. Three took a shortcut, which leaves them only 27.3 official miles. Some fitness test.

05November 1963, and a Race That Stays

In November 1963, Kennedy is assassinated. Almost all of the country's 50-mile walks will never be held again. The one in Maryland resumes on April 4, 1964, and takes Kennedy's name. It hasn't missed a year since, the organizers say, calling it “America’s oldest ultramarathon.”

06Mountain, Canal, Pavement

Today's course climbs 2.5 miles of road up to the Appalachian Trail, about 13 miles of rocky footing, then drops onto the towpath: about 26 miles of flat dirt along the Potomac. The finish is in Williamsport, after 8.4 miles of pavement. In 1973, 1,724 runners line up, the biggest ultra ever run in the United States at the time, according to Ultrarunning History. The following year, sleet makes about 83% of the field drop out (same source). Sawyer then moves the race to the fall.