Forums >General Running>Historic running photos from early 1900s
Runs in the rain
I recently visited my brother and was surprised when he said he had a photo of Grandpa in his running outfit. My Grandfather, Arthur Ziegler, came in 10th place in the 1902 Boston Marathon and was 6th in 1903. He also ran the Brooklyn Marathon in 1909 and finished in 16th place. He also had a photo of the Pastime Athletic Club, members of which were prominent finishers in the early Boston Marathons. We think Grandpa is the young man in the middle with the black shirt with the Maltese cross, the symbol of the club. I made high res scans of both photos and enhanced the contrasts because they were very faded. I had to reduce the size of the files to post them here. These photos will be of historic significance to anyone interested in early running.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
running metalhead
Nice! I wonder what materials they wore. The sweaters may have been of wool and the shoes obviously from leather, but what were the pants made of? Would be nice to try running a few miles with this gear.
Thanks for posting mate!
- Egmond ( 14 januari ) : 1:41:40 (21K)- Vondelparkloop ( 20 januari ) : 0:58.1 (10K but did 13.44!!!)- Twiskemolenloop ( 4 maart ) : 1:35:19 (3th M45!)
- Ekiden Zwolle (10K) ( 25 maart )- Rotterdam Marathon ( 8 april )- Leiden Marathon Halve ( 27 mei )- Marathon Amersfoort ( 10 juni)
The contrast was increased by me in these pictures because they were faded. The results made the shorts in the Pastime photo look shiny as if they were nylon, but I'm not sure such artificial materials were used at that time. My guess is the shorts were just cotton. Wool is a good guess for the sweaters.
not bad for mile 25
Wow, those are great! And yeah, I'd say cotton was pretty much their choice.
Excellent. I love old running photos and videos. Post more if you find them.
SORRY BUT IT SEEMS THE FREE AMAZON PHOTO STORAGE WILL NOT ALLOW USE OF IT'S BANDWIDTH TO SHARE THESE PHOTO. DON"T KNOW HOW TO DELETE POST.
You can't delete it, but if you want to go to the trouble, you could re-upload the photos to, say, https://postimages.org/ and change the links in your post. No account needed. It would be a bit tedious, I fear, but they are great pics; I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
If you use PostImages, select "Direct link" when it offers you the image links.
if you want cheesy videos (with lots of photos) about ultrarunning...
https://ultrarunninghistory.com/
This mustache was popular back then apparently!
Thanks Led! I reloaded the photos as you suggested! Hope this time they will stay.
an amazing likeness
From stories my grandfather told of college track in the WWI era....Likely, the shorts were silk, or light wool. The shoes were light, supple leather uppers with soles treated with tar and other "make 'em sticky" things.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
very cool! Thanks for sharing these!
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
Thanks for reloading! Love the striped shirts and turtlenecks, but why?
(double post)
MoBramExam
Very cool. Thanks.
They look good on a sweater huh