By Paul Gains
Kristian Jamieson is on a mission to beat the time his great-great-grandfather ran at the Boston Marathon. This might bear little relevance were it not for the fact that he is chasing the standard set by the legendary runner Tom Longboat.
Longboat, a member of the Onondaga First Nation, won the 1907 Boston Marathon in 2:24:24 and was widely considered the world’s best long-distance runner of that era. Jamieson hopes to realize his dream of beating his time at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 18.
Attending elementary school on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario – where Longboat also lived and died – Jamieson first learned about the heroics of Longboat. As a child, he was unimpressed, but as he matured, he realized the enormity of his ancestor’s achievements.
“Running a 2:24 in Boston, that is the pinnacle of racing for a long-distance runner,” Jamieson says. “Boston is one of the most famous courses in the world, a very difficult course – Heartbreak Hill, the Newton Hills. I was fascinated.
“I think it came down to a kid wanting a role model to look up to. I was like, ‘Wow, someone in my family lineage who was a phenomenal athlete, loved by Canada and the world. Maybe some of those genetics are in me.’ Once I got a little piece of that, like treasure, I wanted to dig it out.”
Jamieson is a member of the Upper Cayuga First Nation, one of the Six Nations that make up the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Several of its members will be running the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon alongside a contingent of the famous Raramuri from Chihuahua, Mexico, in what Canada Running Series is calling ‘The Friendship Project’.
The Six Nations are also comprised of clans, and he proudly acknowledges he is also a member of the Wolf clan. Although he says he is not obsessed with the wolf, he does admire the species.
“I kind of like the wolf,” he adds. “It’s a predator; they hunt, they move around, they are fast runner, they are tenacious. I have a husky and a lot of people said our husky looks part wolf. When I think of my Wolf clan, I kind of think of my dog.”
During his childhood, Jamieson’s family moved about southern Ontario, finally settling in Niagara Falls. Like many Canadians, his focus as a child was hockey. He played for his high school team and, after graduating from Brock University with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree, he continued playing intramural hockey at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, Ontario. He is currently in his final year of studies.
The team takes on the University of Toronto Dentistry team for an annual charity event, and he excitedly points out that, during his first year, they finally ended a lengthy losing streak to their rivals. Then came the impact of COVID.
Running for fitness and to relieve boredom was initially his motivation as ‘stay-at-home’ restrictions took place. Hockey was cast aside. “I was running more seriously,” he explains. “I was not going to risk getting injured playing these games. Third year, I stopped playing to focus totally on running!”
Although he made his marathon debut in 2023 with a modest 3 hours 13 minutes performance, his pursuit of Longboat’s time became a full-on commitment after he finished 3rd at the 2025 Niagara Falls International Marathon with a time of 2:39:23. That easily qualified him for this year’s Boston Marathon. There, he improved his time to 2:34:02. Five weeks later, he lowered his personal best to 2:31:25 in Ottawa.
“When I was in Ottawa, people were asking me, ‘Are you going to try and run 2:24 here?’” he recalls, smiling. “I said, ‘Oh no.’ I had to tell them, ‘How do you think I am going to go from 2:34 to 2:24? I am barely recovered from Boston.
“I ran a 2:31:25, and Ottawa was a hard race. The highs and lows of marathon running I had never experienced before. When I was in Boston, it was all a high. There were maybe one or two moments that were scary, but other than that, it was smooth sailing.”
Jamieson was encouraged to learn that Kenya’s Beatrice Cheserek knocked almost nine minutes off her personal best after debuting in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon a year ago. Cheserek, with a personal best of 2:21:56, will also run this year’s Toronto Waterfront. He would welcome a similar improvement.
Meeting elite runners in Ottawa, including Canadian Olympians Rory Linkletter and John Gay (the latter confirmed to run in Toronto Waterfront), as well as several Kenyan stars, he says, was inspirational. And their willingness to offer advice further increased his commitment to his dream. But he also gives credit to renowned marathon coach Rick Mannen, who has written training programs for him since the spring. Mannen guided Krista DuChene to a 3rd-place finish at the 2018 Boston Marathon and also to a berth at the Rio Olympics.
“It is nice to see a young person like him so connected to his great-great-grandfather’s legacy and using it as a catalyst to chase his dreams while honouring Tom Longboat,” Mannen says. “I feel very honoured to be coaching him.”
The summer break from school allowed Jamieson to raise his training volume sometimes up to 200 kilometres a week and to get to a gym regularly for strength training. Between sessions, he watched YouTube videos of distance runners to learn about their lifestyle. Most importantly, he had the time to sleep. It is not that way now that his final year of studies has begun.
“It’s difficult. That is what I am going to miss the most,” he laments. “In the summer, I could sleep in and recover. Some of my workouts are two hours long. With school, I don’t have as much time.
“(During school) I was waking up at 4:00 a.m. or 4:25 a.m., then starting my run anywhere from 4:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. I would wake up and then start running.”
With his dream to beat Tom Longboat’s Boston time now well recorded in the media – and amongst the patients he sees at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry – the attention he has received could be stifling.
“Do I feel any pressure? Honestly, I don’t feel any pressure,” he responds. “Running is something I love to do. It’s a passion. It makes me feel alive knowing that I have a goal and every day matters. I am trying to get one step closer to achieving this time. It’s given me so much purpose.
“2:24 is just the beginning. Once I hit 2:24, I am looking to go sub 2:20 and see how far I can push myself. I am in it for the long term.”
