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Tom Longboat who became Canada's most celebrated marathon runner, grew up in a world stimulated by the revival of the Olympic Games. In 1896, when he was nine years of age, the first marathon of the modern era took place at the Olympics held in Athens, Greece. Early in his life it became clear that Longboat had the ability to become a great runner. By 1910 he was widely recognized as one of Canada's leading athletes. His …

…distance running. In 1905 Shrubb had been declared a professional and thus disqualified himself for the Olympics. However, Shrubb and Longboat raced against each other ten different times. Longboat won three times when the distance was longer than 20 miles; Shrubb won the distances between 10 and 16 miles. Longboat's achievements as a marathoner brought him recognition as one of Canada's greatest athletes. He will be remembered for his superb career as one of the world's premier Marathon runners.