Emily Chan
Additionally, there was only one available freshwater stop during the whole race. It was located 12 miles from the start of the race. A total of 32 runners started the race that day, but by the end, only 14 would finish.
The first runner to cross the finish line was Fred Lorz. But, just as he was about to receive the winner’s trophy, he was revealed to be an impostor. It turned out that he had hitched a ride in a car for 11 miles after he began suffering from cramps.
As for Carvajal, he stopped at an orchard at one point to snack on some apples. Unfortunately, they were rotten and gave him stomach cramps. So, he laid down on the side of the road and took a nap. He still finished in fourth place.
The winner of the race was Thomas Hicks, an experienced runner from Massachusetts. At the 10-mile mark, he begged his support team for a drink.
Instead, they washed out his mouth with warm distilled water. At seven miles from the finish line, they fed him a mixture of strychnine and egg whites.
Back then, strychnine was commonly used as a stimulant in small doses. Today, the CDC considers it a strong poison mainly used for killing rats.
Hicks started hallucinating during the race. It took everything in him to continue dragging himself toward the finish line.
Finally, his trainers had to carry him over the line because he had grown so limp. He was declared the winner.
No event would ever come close to the strangeness of the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon.
