On Sunday, March 11, 1973 the St. Patrick’s Committee in St.
Paul organized the first-ever St. Patrick’s Day Mini Marathon (4.8 miles) This
race was destined to evolve into the present-day Human Race run and walk. There
were 45 runners that first year, only four of the participants were women.
Ron Daws won that 1973 race. Steve Hoag was a close second.
This race was certainly not the beginning of the Daws/Hoag story and is nowhere near the end. But it’s a good starting point for getting to know this year’s Human Race Heroes.
“I was looking over some of the articles about it [that first race 32 years ago]. It was very poorly organized. There were no water stops, splits or anything that you’d expect now,” recalled Hoag. “I think the traffic control was pretty much non-existent; although they may have had somebody there at major intersections.
“It was a fun, fast course. We ran down Summit Avenue from Cretin and finished at the Transportation Building by the State Capitol,” said Hoag. “I remember they did not have a timer at the finish. There was one guy at the finish line with a wrist watch, he gave us his best guess for our times.
“In the paper the next day they gave Ron a time of 25:10. I
don’t know how they did that because the official at the finish line had no
clue what we ran,” said Hoag. “Glenn Gostick, the trainer for the St. Paul
Fighting Saints Hockey Team, won what they called the ‘elders’ race’ in 31:05.
They didn’t call them masters.
“It was fun – in the context of races back then. As well organized
as any,” said Hoag. “In their defense, they didn’t know anything about distance
running. They had a good feel for it being a good recreational activity.”
It wasn’t until 1980 when GBS Sports, a local running retail
store, took over management of the race. GBS became The Sporting Life in 1993.
“For us it was a good test for Boston [Marathon],” said
Hoag. “It’s part of how we did our speed work for Boston.”
At the time of that first St. Patrick’s Day race, Daws was a
35-year-old veteran runner, a marathoner for the U.S. in the 1968 Olympics.
Hoag, 25, was still two years away from his 2:11:54 second place finish in the
1975 Boston Marathon. Daws was Hoag’s running partner, mentor and coach.
Minnesota running lore has it that back in the 1960s and ‘70s,
if you were a runner and saw someone – anyone – out running, especially during
the winter – you knew who they were. There just weren’t that many runners out
there in the days before the 1970s ‘running boom.’
Pat Lanin, founder of what is presently MDRA, was one of
Daws’ and later, Hoag’s, running partners. He tells the story of the first time
he and Ron saw Steve Hoag run.
“Ron and I were up at an all-comers meet at the old Anoka
High School. We watched this little guy come out onto the track. They ran in
age group heats for the mile,” said Lanin. “He was overstriding; he ran way
overstride. As his race started he flew out into the lead.
“Ron and I looked at each other. We said, ‘that guy’s not
going to finish.’ We thought he was a flash in the pan,” said Lanin. “He led
the first lap. He was still leading in the second lap and the third lap. He
blew everyone away in the fourth and final lap.
“That’s the first time we saw Steve Hoag. He was just a
sophomore or junior in high school back then. He was just a little tiny wispy
guy. But he ran with such gusto or maybe it was bravado. He was overstriding
the whole way,” said Lanin. “But he ran away with the whole damn thing. While
he was still in his first lap Ron and I were convinced the rest of these guys
[in the race] were going to stomp him.
“But Hoag was something special; he was for real. We knew we
had seen a serious, serious talent there,” said Lanin. “And he was just in the
beginning of his years of running. He was just starting to find out what it was
about. Ron and I were standing there with our jaws hanging open at the end of
the race.”
Apparently Daws and Lanin never approached Hoag while they
were at that meet. Hoag remembers first getting to know Daws just a few years
later when he was a student-athlete at the University of Minnesota.
“I had met Ron when I was 18 or 19 years old. We worked out
together when I was at the U. He was 10 years older than me and had graduated
from the U years earlier,” said Hoag. “He was sort of the guru of running. We
always liked to have him run with us [the U of M team]. He was entertaining to
say the least. He knew a lot about running.”
Daws’ workouts with the U team were just the beginning for
the running relationship between Daws and Hoag. Hoag thought his running career
would possibly end with his graduation from college. But Daws played a part in
changing his plans.
“I went on a bunch of trips with Ron. For instance, we drove
his car to Chicago,” said Hoag. “I got to liking distance runners. They were
really goofy. College running was more structured. This was different; we would
just wing-it; it was fun to travel. The races were not well organized back
then.
“Ron talked me into
extending my career as a runner through road races. One thing led to another and
one day he said, ‘you’d be a good marathoner,’” said Hoag. “By then I was a
very efficient runner; I wasn’t super fast by a lot of standards but I was a
good runner.”
Continue to next article...
Part II: The Self-Made Olympian
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