The Amazing Foot Race of 1921

READ ALL ABOUT IT: Hikers to Walk From East Coast to Vancouver

Canadians have long been fascinated with trekkers who conquered this country sea to sea, from John Hugh Gillis in 1906 to Terry Fox in 1980 to Rick Hansen in 1985. This adventure tale celebrates five Canadians who hiked from Halifax to Vancouver in 1921. For a nation struggling with post-war inflation, labour unrest and unemployment, the prospect of the 3,645-mile hike was a welcome distraction.

Daily reports from the competitors, who followed the CPR tracks, ran in the Halifax Herald and in other newspapers, and it wasn’t long before the race had become a national obsession to rival today’s Amazing Race television series or the Tour de France. Bands played. Crowds cheered. People placed their bets. By the time they were done, all five competitors had turned Canada “walking crazy.”

This story about men and women with modern-day derring-do is told in the vernacular of the day, with newspaper accounts and over 50 photographs.