How a group of non-runners launched P.E.I.'s 1st marathon 45 years ago

What we know as the P.E.I. Marathon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this weekend — but did you know the marathon is actually much older than that? 

The first marathon was held 45 years ago, in 1979, and grew out of the P.E.I. Roadrunners running club.

"It's exciting. In my life, I've had other passions, but this running business became a passion, primarily the promotion of running," Parker Lund told CBC Radio: Mainstreet host Matt Rainnie.

Lund was the first president of the P.E.I. Roadrunners Club in 1977. Back then, running or jogging wasn't the popular pastime it is now. 

The club was born that year out of a fundraising run Lund and a handful of others did to raise money for playground improvements at St. Jean Elementary School, where Lund worked as the principal. He gathered a few friends and ran from Moncton to Charlottetown over three days. 

"It was a crazy move," he said, noting that none of the men had actually done much running except for him. 

"We were all just learning the game… From then on, we started the club idea and then we expanded and expanded … it was a lot of fun." 

A group of Roadrunners then travelled to New Glasgow, N.S., in 1978 to run the Johnny Miles Marathon and meet its founder. Johnny Miles, from Cape Breton, came to fame after shocking the running world in the 1920s by winning two Boston Marathons. 

Meeting Miles was "the highlight of my life," Lund said. "He was a super man." 

In September 1979, the Roadrunners, led by Lund, organized P.E.I.'s first marathon — "which is pretty incredible… in a two-year span, to go from basically nothing to running a marathon and organizing a marathon." 

Seventy-eight people from both on- and off-Island participated in that first marathon, starting in Cavendish and finishing at the Cenotaph in Charlottetown. Lund said there was lots of public support along the route, with people in North Rustico gathered at the roadside banging pots and pans to encourage the runners. 

The next few years, Lund said the marathon locked down a group of key people to organize the annual race, and excitement grew. Local businessman Frank Johnston provided his boardroom for meetings. Sponsors were found: CBC even sponsored the race in years three and four. 

"It's never one person — this running game was always a group of people," Lund said.  

Lund and a group of fellow Roadrunners participated in the Boston Marathon in 1979, one of the highlights of his racing career.