Kennedy Kane McArthur (10 February 1881 – 13 June 1960) is most noted as a

track and field athlete Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and winner of the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

Biography

Born in

Dervock Dervock ( or ''Dairbheog'') is a small village and townland (of 132 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is about 3.5 miles (6 km) northeast of Ballymoney, on the banks of the River Bush. It is situated in the civil parish of D ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, McArthur was recognised as a promising athlete as a teenager, but he didn't pursue an athletics career until after emigrating to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1901 at the age of 20. After joining the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

Police Force in 1906, McArthur begun to take athletics seriously. Soon he had won the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

half and one mile championships, the five mile track championship and also two national cross country championships. McArthur ran his first marathon late in the 1908 season, and surprisingly beat the Olympic silver medalist

Charles Hefferon Charles Archer Hefferon (25 January 1878 – 13 May 1932) was an athlete representing South Africa who competed mainly in the marathon. Hefferon was born in Newbury, Berkshire, England, to an Irish father and an English mother but moved with his ...

. He also won the national one and ten mile championships. The

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Olympic marathon took place in sweltering heat. Representing South Africa in the event, McArthur and his teammate Christian Gitsham ran together and soon took the lead. Confident of victory, Gitsham stopped for water, expecting his colleague to join him, as agreed. Instead McArthur ran on, stretching his lead and taking him to certain victory over Gitsham by 58 seconds. In the next season, McArthur injured his foot in an accident and was forced to retire from athletics. He ran six marathon races (including the Olympic marathon) throughout his career and never lost one.

References

External links

* *
Kennedy McArthur
' at the ''South African Sport and Arts Hall of Fame'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Ken 1881 births 1960 deaths Irish emigrants to South Africa South African male long-distance runners South African male marathon runners Athletes from County Antrim Olympic athletes for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics South African police officers Irish male marathon runners Irish male long-distance runners Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Police officers from County Antrim