AN URBAN MI’KMAQ MARATHONER AND THE FEMINIST REVOLUTION


F


rom the time the modern Olym- pics re-introduced the marathon in 1896, women were stereotyped as too fragile to run long-distance races and were formally excluded.


Only in 1984 at Los Angeles were women of- fi cially allowed to run the Olympic marathon. Joan Benoit Samuelson of the United States won gold, Grete Waitz of Norway silver, and Rosa Mota of Portugal bronze. However, these three were not alone in “breaking the glass ceiling” in long-distance running. Patti Lyons Catalano Dillon is the most


famous American Indian women marathoner in history. She is ranked as the second-best woman marathoner of all time by the Na- tional Distance Running Hall of Fame, which inducted her in 2006. During her career, she held American records in numerous running categories, ranging from fi ve miles to the mar- athon. She set world records in the fi ve-mile, 10K, 20K and the half marathon. She was also the fi rst American woman to break the two- hour 30-minute barrier in the marathon. In 1980, she won 12 of 16 major races, including fi ve marathons, and fi nished second in three. Lyons, the eldest of nine children, was born


on April 6, 1953, and grew up in the Hough’s Neck neighborhood of Quincy, Mass. For de- cades, a sizeable number of Mi’kmaq Indians had migrated to the Boston metropolitan area and had established a community there. Her mother was a Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, who ran away from her reserve at an early age. Patti’s father, an Irish-American from Dorchester, had been an athlete, a champion boxer in the Navy. He died when Patti was a teenager. Patti was responsible for much of the care of her eight siblings. Overweight,


sedentary and a heavy


smoker, Lyons became caught up in the fi t- ness craze of the 1970s. She decided to take up running, jogging in the area around the Quincy Library. She soon began competitive running and, in 1976, entered the Ocean City Marathon, which she won for the fi rst time. In 1977, she fi nished second in the fi rst Bonnie Bell 10-Kilometer Run for women (now the Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women). A turning point in her racing career came


with her relationship with Joe Catalano, the track coach of Quincy High School. Catalano


46 AMERICAN INDIAN SPRING 2017


became her coach, trainer and, later, her hus- band. He put her through Spartan workouts, running 100 miles a week. She eliminated her two-pack a day cigarette habit. In prepa- ration for the Boston Marathon, Catalano had her run 600 yards on Heartbreak Hill ten times at a set rate once a week. She also did speed work one day a week. Her husband introduced her to weight training. By 1978, her transformation was complete. She had become a fi nely tuned long-distance runner capable of competing with world champions such the late Grete Waitz In 1979, 1980 and 1981, she fi nished sec-


ond in the woman’s division of the Boston Marathon. In the 1981 marathon, Patti was leading the race just four miles from the fi n-


Patti Lyons Catalano winning the 10K Bonnie Bell Race in 1980. Also shown is race offi cial Johnny Kelley, the legendary winner of the 1935 Boston Marathon and the major competitor of “Tarzan” Brown. He is shown holding up the bell and the fi nish line strap.


ish. The large crowds lining the route spilled over into the path of the racers, creating a tighter course for the runners. The horse of a mounted police offi cer suddenly shifted sideways and slammed its hindquarters into Lyons. She was shaken and bruised and forced to slow down. Allison Roe of New Zealand, a world class rival, took the lead with three miles to go and won the race. Although losing to Roe, Patti Lyons Catalano set the American woman’s record for the marathon.


PHOTO BY FRANK O'BRIEN/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES


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