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Podcast: Ultrarunning History
Episode: 169: Old Sport Campana (1836-1906) – Part Two
Description: By Davy Crockett
In part one, “Old Sport” Peter Napoleon Campana (1836-1906), of Bridgeport, Connecticut, a poor street vendor, and talented runner, wanted to become a professional pedestrian/ultrarunner. At age 42, he was viewed as very elderly, a strange anomaly on the track. It was said that it looked like he had been run through a threshing machine. “He looks like a physical wreck and every stranger expects to see him collapse momentarily. His shriveled, shrunken, crooked figure is one of the marvels of pedestrianism.”
In early 1879, he had a poor reputation, and his integrity was questioned. But during the coming 1...