Jerome Drayton (born January 10, 1945 in

Kolbermoor Kolbermoor is a town in the district of Rosenheim, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 5 km west of Rosenheim on the river Mangfall. In 1859 Kolbermoor railway stop was built for the new Bavarian Maximilian's Railway. Kolbermoor became a ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

) is a former

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

who competed internationally for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. He was born as Peter Buniak in Germany, and came to Canada in the mid-1950s when his mother moved there after divorcing his father. He reportedly based his new name on two famous sprinters he admired: Canadian former world record holder

Harry Jerome Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

and American Paul Drayton, former world record holder in the 4 × 100 m as part of the American relay team. However, Drayton has denied this, stating that he chose Jerome because it was a name he had always liked, and Drayton because he thought the two names fit well together. A prominent runner in the 1970s, when he was for a time ranked as the top marathoner in the world, he won the

Fukuoka Marathon The is an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on its ...

in 1969, 1975, and 1976, as well as the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ...

in 1977. His Canadian men's national record time in the marathon of 2:10:09, set in 1975 at the Fukuoka Marathon, stood for 43 years until broken by Cam Levins in October 2018 with a time of 2:09:25 in the

Toronto Waterfront Marathon The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is an annual marathon held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October. The race day also includes a half marathon and 5 km race. The race has quickly become an elite level marathon and is one of just five World A ...

. Drayton had held the Canadian record since 1969, after breaking the then record of 2:18:55 set by Robert Moore a month earlier.Canadian Marathon Record Progression
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History

Drayton was born as Peter Buniak on January 10, 1945, in Munich, Germany, to parents of Russian-Ukrainian background. Having been born as the Second World War was coming to an end and extreme poverty was widespread, Drayton and his parents had traveled to Germany from Poland aboard a cattle train. Drayton’s parents eventually divorced and his mother, who had custody of him, moved to Canada and then brought Drayton over to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in November, 1956, when he was 11 years old. When he took up running in high school, Drayton’s single-mindedness quickly became evident and it wasn’t long before he won top-calibre events. After winning the Ontario high school championships for

Mimico High School Mimico High School (MHS) is a former public secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It served the Mimico neighborhood in Etobicoke. The school was opened in 1924 by the Mimico Board of Education and joined the Etobicoke Board of Education in ...

, he was recruited to the Toronto Olympic Club, where he began working with national distance running coach Paul Poce.

Achievements

References

External links

A history of the Fukuoka International Marathon Championships

Canadian Olympic Committee

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, Jerome 1945 births Living people People from Kolbermoor Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria Canadian male long-distance runners Canadian male marathon runners Olympic male marathon runners Olympic track and field athletes of Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Japan Championships in Athletics winners Boston Marathon male winners German emigrants to Canada

History

Achievements

See also

References

External links