By Davy Crockett

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In 1878, Daniel O’Leary of Chicago was the undisputed world champion of ultrarunning/pedestrianism. He cemented that title with his victory in the First International Astley Belt Six-day Race in London, defeating seventeen others, running and walking 520.2 miles.

The Astley Belt quickly became the most sought-after trophy in ultrarunning. O'Leary was then the most famous runner in America and Great Britain, pushing aside the fleeting memory of Edward Payson Weston. As with any championship, want-a-be contenders came out of the woodwork. They coveted the shiny, heavy, gold and silver Astley Belt and wanted to see their own names engraved upon it. But more than anything, they also wanted the riches and the fame from adoring fans of the new endurance sport which was about to experience an explosion of popularity in both England and America.

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Challenger: William Howes

William Howes

On the same day of O’Leary’s Astley Belt six-day victory, he received a challenge for the belt from William Howes (1839-), age 39, a waiter from Haggerston, England. Howes had been a very vocal critic of the Americans, O’Leary and Weston. He must have looked old because he was referred to as being “rather advanced in years.” He was 5’4” and had competed in running for many years.

Back in December 1876, O’Leary had experienced the first pedestrian defeat of his career against Howes in a 300-mile 72-hour race when O’Leary had to drop out mid-race because of sickness. Howes had accused O’Leary of faking the illness to delegitimize Howe’s victory. Then a month later, Howes anonymously tried to put together a race against O’Leary, Weston and himself. But then Howes experienced an injury, couldn’t participate, and was very mad that the race wasn’t postponed for him.

Howes Issue Challenge to O’Leary

Howes was a legitimate ultrarunner, who in February 1878 had set a new world walking record for 100 miles (18:08:20) and 24 hours (127 miles). But for unknown reasons, Howes withdrew his entry for the Astley Belt race a week before the race. Now, instead of racing against the 18 runners in that race, he wanted a head-to-head match against O’Leary to try to snatch away the coveted Astley Belt.

O’Leary was required to accept any challenge within three months and defend the belt within 18 months, but he had no intention of staying in England with his family to race against the pesky Howes. Howes, who clearly dodged competition in the First Astley Belt Race, just one week later, on March 30, 1878, raced against ten others for 50 miles in the Agricultural Hall in London.  Howes, won by two minutes and broke the world record with 7:57:54, the first to break the eight-hour barrier. (Later in the summer he would lower it further to 7:15:23 at Lillie Bridge).

Also, just three days after O’Leary’s victory, Weston, who had also pulled out of the Astley Belt race claiming illness, realizing the huge money that could be involved, issued his own challenge against O’Leary. Other challenges came from Brits, Henry Vaughan, William Corkey, and Blower Brown, all veterans of the First Astley Belt Race.

O’Leary Returns to America with the Belt

O’Leary infuriated Howes and many others in England when he made it clear that he was returning to America and that any challenge to the belt would need to be competed against him there. He said, “Having won the belt, I had the say where the walking should be done. I wouldn’t walk in London again. They don’t know where America is, and of course wouldn’t go there.”  This didn’t please Sir John Astley who feared that the belt would never come back to England. He stated that if it didn’t come back, he would create an identical belt for the British to compete for,