Andarín Carvajal

Carvajal at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
Andarín Carvajal running during the Olympic Marathon

Félix de la Caridad Carvajal y Soto, known as Andarín Carvajal (March 18, 1875 January 27, 1949) was a famous Cuban runner. Born in San Antonio de los Baños, Carvajal lived in poverty his entire life before his death in Havana.

During his life he was a mailman who performed walking and running exhibitions in Cuba (including a journey across the full length of the island). Carvajal traveled to the United States to compete in the Olympic marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, but lost all of his money in New Orleans, Louisiana and was forced to hitchhike and walk the rest of the way. He arrived at the race dressed in street clothes and hastily cut around the legs of his trousers to make them more like shorts. Carvajal performed well in the race despite stopping to chat with spectators and snatching some peaches from a spectator's car. Later in the race he saw an apple tree and stopped to eat some apples which turned out to be rotten.[1] After stopping to nap and recover, Carvajal rallied to finish fourth.[2]

The Spanish language book Félix Carvajal, corredor de maratón, by Bernardo José Mora, was written on his life.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Felix Carvajal.

References

  1. Abbott, Karen. "The 1904 Olympic Marathon May Have Been the Strangest Ever". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  2. Martin, David E.; Gynn, Roger W. H. (2000). The Olympic Marathon. p. 50. ISBN 9780880119696.