True story · No. 01

The 1904 Olympic Marathon: The Most Absurd Race in History

One runner covers part of the course by car, the winner runs on rat poison, and a Cuban mailman stops to eat apples. St. Louis, August 30, 1904: the 1904 Olympic marathon, where almost everything that could go wrong did.

By the PacePoster desk · October 16, 2026 · 3 min · 6 sources

Cuban Félix Carvajal, 4th in the 1904 marathon, in street shoes and clothes. Unknown author, 1904, Missouri History Museum, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone

01A 1904 Olympic marathon designed to hurt

On August 30, 1904, 32 runners set off in St. Louis, Missouri, for 40 km. It is around 32 °C. The country roads are dirt, and the cars following the race kick up dust so thick that the runners sometimes vanish in it. For drinking: one official water stop, a well around the 12-mile mark. The organizer, James E. Sullivan, used the race to run his own experiment on dehydration, according to Popular Science. The result: 14 finishers out of 32. The rest? Dropouts, cramps, collapses.

32starters

14finishers

1official water stop

02Fred Lorz, the four-wheeled shortcut

At mile 9, about 14 km in, Lorz cramps up. He climbs into a car. It eventually breaks down, so he starts running again less than 10 km from the finish, enters the stadium first and is cheered to the rafters. Alice Roosevelt, the president’s daughter, is even about to hand him the medal. The trick is soon uncovered, and Lorz calls it a joke. Disqualified, he is banned for life by the AAU, then the ban is lifted. In 1905, he wins the Boston Marathon. Maximum nerve.

Don’t do that to your next 10K.

03Thomas Hicks, champion on rat poison

The real winner is Thomas Hicks: 3:28:53. To keep him upright, his handlers feed him strychnine, the poison in rat killer, mixed with egg white. Around mile 20, another dose, washed down with brandy this time. He finishes alternating between walking and jogging, and crosses the line held up by two men. American Heritage describes him in a state of deep stupor, about ten pounds lighter after a little over three hours. Doping is not yet banned at the Games, so his win stays in the record books. Don’t do that to your next 10K.

Thomas Hicks, winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon, surrounded by his handlers. Unknown author, 1904, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone

04Félix Carvajal, in street clothes and green apples

The most endearing of the bunch is a Cuban mailman, Félix Carvajal. He pays for his trip by running in front of crowds in Cuba, loses his money in New Orleans (at dice, according to American Heritage) and hitchhikes the rest of the way. He turns up at the start in street clothes: American athlete Martin Sheridan cuts his trousers off at the knee. On the course, he stops in an orchard to munch on unripe apples. Stomach cramps guaranteed, and Popular Science even gives him a nap. He still finishes 4th. In cut-off trousers.

05Len Taunyane, chased by dogs

Len Taunyane (also known as Len Tau) and Jan Mashiani, two Tswana men from South Africa, are in St. Louis for the World’s Fair show about the Boer War, in which they had served as messengers. They are presented as the first Black Africans in Olympic history (a white South African, Bertie Harris, also runs this marathon but does not finish). Taunyane finishes 9th, Mashiani 12th. And Taunyane could have done better: dogs chased him off the course, through a cornfield according to American Heritage, for nearly a mile according to Popular Science.

Sources for this story (6)

Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.