Lewis Bennett was born in 1830 into the Snipe Clan. By the 1850s, other Seneca runners, including Albert Smith, Sundown and Strong Smoke, were achieving distinction in long-distance competition. inches and 6 feet tall and weighing 162 pounds, he was a force to be reckoned with, both as a lacrosse player and, later, as a long-distance runner.ĭeerfoot clearly was drawn to running not by his skill as a lacrosse player, but by the success of earlier Seneca competitive runners such as John Steeprock and the significant prize money that could be won. On the lacrosse fields, Deerfoot excelled because of his exceptional endurance, more than his blinding sprint speed. Lacrosse games were also often used to channel tensions and overcome factionalism. Known to the Six Nations as the “Creator’s Game,” it was both an Iroquoian ritual and an entertaining competitive athletic competition. Seneca athletic training was in lacrosse. For this role, the runner is accorded respect as a community leader worthy of other higher positions of authority. To this day, Six Nations chiefs still designate “runners,” using the term to describe a person who serves the Iroquois Confederacy as a conduit for the conduct of essential business. For energy on their demanding task, runners wore a bearskin or deerskin pouch on a light belt on their breechclout that contained pounded parched corn mixed with maple sugar. Significantly, runners brought messages and carried stringed wampum to signify their official role, diplomatic protocol and the weight of their words. Through the history of the Six Nations, runners were not merely athletes intent on “going for the gold.” They summoned councils, conveyed intelligence from nation to nation and warned of impending danger. He was 32 years old when he set the world record in the one-hour race! Making his achievements even more spectacular, the Seneca was no young aspiring runner when he ran in championship races in the British Isles. Deerfoot competed and won against the most accomplished runners of his day. He held the world record for the one-hour run – 11 miles, 790 yards – from 1863 to 1897! Indeed, his performances reshaped the sport by introducing strategies that later legends of long-distance running, most notably Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia and Paavo Nurmi of Finland, adopted in the first decades of the 20th century. Until 1865, when a more accurate stopwatch was invented, races were timed by a chronograph, a watch that was accurate to one-fourth to one-fifth of a second.ĭeerfoot dominated distance racing from ten to 12 miles. Victors in races were rewarded with prize money, sometimes a share of the admission receipts and a championship cup. A great cause of their popularity was that spectators were encouraged to bet heavily on the outcome. Pedestrian races attracted thousands of paid admissions. These promoters served as managers as well as trainers and gave their runners colorful names, such as “Crowcatcher,” “American Deer” and “Young England,” to sell the event to the public. Official challenges were advertised in the press by promoters, who were often shady characters, and terms were negotiated at prominent taverns or inns that were adjacent to cricket fields or horse tracks. Deerfoot was the master of pedestrianism, a sport of long-distance running popular in the 19th century, especially in England, Ireland and Scotland.
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