Leonard Hurst

Len Hurst was a British long-distance runner and pedestrian, born in Kent in 1871, who trained as a brick-maker and spent his last 29 years as a pub landlord; he died in 1937. He won his first adult race in 1887 aged 15, which qualified him as a professional, and after switching to longer distances in 1893 covered 294 kilometres in a four-day event. He won the inaugural Paris Marathon in 1896 and again in 1900 and 1901, and won the professional 25 mile world championships in London in 1901 before breaking the professional 25 mile record in 1903. In 1903 he also won the 85 kilometre professional London to Brighton race in 6 hours 32 minutes 34 seconds and he took part in multi-day six day races, including a New York six day walk in 1902.