To enter one of the most iconic marathons in the world, the Boston Marathon, you first have to run a full marathon on a qualifying course and make the required time for your age group just to apply; of that pool only the fastest runners are considered.

Kristian Jamieson, who is Upper Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, is running the Boston Marathon for the second time this year.

The 24-year-old is the great-great-grandson of Tom Longboat, the first Indigenous person to win that race.

“The Boston Marathon is just at the top of everybody’s bucket list and so for me, it’s extra special just knowing that my great-great-grandfather, Tom Longboat, won the Boston Marathon in 1907,” he said.

Last year he finished the 42.2 kilometre race in 3:07. This year he intends to get as close as he can to Longboat’s record time of 2:24:24, set on a 40-kilometre course.

He grew up in Six Nations and Niagara Falls, Ont., playing hockey instead of running track, and began running just five years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic because he was feeling sedentary being indoors all day, “playing video games and doing school.”

“I almost felt like there was some untapped potential in me and I just had to do something about it,” he said.

Jamieson said he sets the bar high for himself. His first time running the Boston Marathon was a good learning opportunity, he said, calling it a tricky course. 

To qualify for this year, Jamieson ran and won the Niagara Ultra in 2024, setting a personal record of 2:52 all while studying full time at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, Ont.

He said he’s been preparing for the Boston Marathon for the past three and half months, waking up at 4 a.m. to run 20 kilometres a day. 

He never thought “just lacing up a pair of shoes” would have such a positive impact in his life and reach so many other people, he said.

“That’s quickly what this journey of mine has become, of me chasing Tom Longboat’s marathon time and just trying to be the new generation member to keep history alive because it’s just such an amazing piece of Canadian history,” Jamieson said.

Just as his great-great grandfather is his role model, he said he hopes to inspire youth in his community to pursue their dreams.

Tenacity

Jamieson’s coach Derek Silva, a professor of sociology at King’s University College at Western, said if he had to describe Jamieson in one word, it would be “tenacious.”

“One of the things that Kristian has that almost nobody else has – that I train – is just his desire to be better every single day. It’s actually really amazing to watch,” he said.

Sliva said he uses Jamieson as an example with some of the athletes he trains.

“He is such a good runner and he has some natural talent but really it’s hard work that has made him such a great athlete to coach, but also successful,” he said.

Jamieson is aiming for at time of 2:29 this year.

“It’s really, really incredibly impressive for someone who’s been training for only five years,” Silva said.

Time to beat 2:24:24

Fellow runner and friend Akshay Grover followed Jamieson’s running career for a documentary about Tom Longboat and documented Jamieson’s first Boston Marathon.

He said Longboat’s 2:24:24 time is unforgettable. 

“That’s an insane number to run,” he said. 

“For anyone to run a marathon in under three hours is an incredible achievement by today’s standards.”

Longboat’s shoes were flat and flimsy where sneakers are now specifically engineered for running, making his record an even more incredible feat for his day, Grover said.

He said while working as the official videographer for former prime minister Justin Trudeau, he was inspired by the Heritage Minute on Tom Longboat that was reshared to one of Trudeau’s social media accounts.

Grover said Longboat’s story — from residential schools to running marathons to a dispatch runner in the First World War — resonated with him.

“Tom’s story is like a series of major changes and major moments in Canadian history,” he said.