Al Howie
Arthur "Al" Howie (September 16, 1945 – June 21, 2016) was a Canadian long-distance runner who won more than fifty marathons, ultramarathons, and multiday races in over two decades, including the 1991 Trans Canada Highway run (7295 kilometers) in the record time of 72 days and 10 hours.
A brass plaque on Victoria's Mile Zero marker commemorates this athletic event for which he raised $750,000 for a fund for children with special needs.
Two weeks after running across Canada he won the Sri Chinmoy 1300 Miler in New York improving on his own world record time.
The City of Duncan awarded him the Perpetual Trophy for Excellence and Sportsmanship in December 2007, and in 2014 he was inducted into The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.
Howie had run from Victoria to Prince George to be in the race that promised the winner an all-expense-paid trip to the Boston Marathon.
And amputee Terry Fox was the last to finish the race only ten minutes behind the last two-legged runner encouraged by spontaneous applause from the watching crowd.
"Fox unleashed a tremendous wave of energy and eagerness to excel, seldom seen in Canada on a personal level," noted Howie.
Adopting a macrobiotic diet, Howie had recovered sufficiently by spring of the following year to run 1200 kilometers from Victoria to Fernie in southern B.C.
In 1987 he broke the record for the longest, continual run, completing 360 miles (580 kilometers) in 1422 laps around the University of Victoria's Centennial Stadium in 104.5 hours.
[4] In 1988, he set a record in the 880-mile (1,420 km) Land's End to John o' Groats, running the length of Britain in 11 days.
A few months later, he ran from England through France to the island of Sardinia in Italy where he participated in the final running of the Super-Marathon Nuraghe.
No runners finished the 1300 Miler in New York in 1987 and 1988, but in 1989, Al Howie was the first person to complete the grueling Sri Chinmoy 1,300-mile (2,100 km) distance, setting the world record at 17 days and 9 hours.
The route was from West to East via Prince Rupert and the Yellowhead Highway to Portage la Prairie, to Ottawa.
It was part of Howie's North America running tour "to promote world peace and famine relief."
The run was halted dramatically in the Ottawa Valley when a malignant brain tumour appeared behind his right ear, triggering thoughts of dying.
"Facing death, I realized the extent of my love for this life; I didn't want to die," he wrote in a medical journal a year later.
In gratitude, he ran the 1200 kilometres from Victoria to the White Spruce Farm in Fernie, in southern B. C., where he had received some of his healing instruction and motivation.
In 1992, the year after crossing Canada from east to west, Howie joined 28 other ultra-runners in a run across the United States.
Not wearing proper inserts in his shoes while crossing the hot Mojave Desert in Arizona, he developed complications from blisters on his feet, forcing him to withdraw.
He competed in the 1300 Miler in New York in 1993 but an inflamed nerve to his left knee forced him to withdraw after six days of running.
"Death penalty commuted to life sentence of insulin injections," Howie wrote after starting treatment.
"I'm back on the multi-day circuit, Novolin pens and a One Touch meter tossed into my sport bag with running shoes, orthotics and petroleum jelly.
More significantly my potential for success, even for record breaking in the grueling sport of ultra-marathon racing, is not to be compromised by my diabetic condition.
He resided in a residential and transitional care facility in Duncan, British Columbia, where he underwent treatment for diabetes.
Qualified for the Guinness Book of Records for the Trans Canada run and the Sri Chinmoy 1300 miler race in 1991.
"The Al Howie Room" with a king bed at the CycleInn B & B in Langford owned by Joanne Cowan, a frequent running partner.
The story of Al Howie was the focus of a sermon by Dr. Eugen Bannerman at Gordon United Church, Langford, on February 19, 2006.
Longest documented solo run: Trans Canada Highway, summer 1991, 7295,5 kilometres, in 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes.
Ran the Trans Canada Highway, Yellowhead route via Prince Rupert and Edmonton to Ottawa (4740 km).
Ran the Trans Canada Highway from Mile Zero in St. John's, NL, to Victoria, BC (7295.5 km in 72 days and 10 hours).
