On 6 September 2008, local working-class sports hero and former coal miner Johnny Miles was commemorated with a life-sized statue and plaque outside Jubilee Elementary School in Sydney Mines. Miles, who grew up in the community of Florence, had won the Boston marathon twice. He first won in 1926 and then again in 1929, and he was inducted into the Order of Canada for his accomplishments in 1983. He passed away in 2003. Nearly 200 people attended the unveiling of the monument and witnessed the release of 14 white doves, which symbolized the number that Miles wore on his jersey when he ran. The plaque reads: “Johnny Miles, 1906-2003. Winner, Boston Marathon 1926 & 1929. 1926 World Record 2:25:40:4. ‘Our Champion Running the Rails’ Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, September 5, 2008. Artist – Doug Bamford.” Behind the plaque, Miles’s statue stands, in mid-stride, on top of a steel rail. Halifax artist Doug Bamford explains the symbolism in these terms: “The column that the statue is perched upon is made from railroad rails that were rolled at the Sydney rolling mill. In the winter Johnny would run on the trolley tracks because they were the only tracks that were cleared in the winter.” [1] Although the monument does not specifically mention Miles’s association with industry in Cape Breton, he began work in the Princess Colliery at the age of 11 while his father was away in the First World War. His first job, cleaning and preparing miners’ lamps, provided Miles with a lifelong appreciation and affinity for the workers of Cape Breton. [2]
When his father returned from the war in 1919, Miles was able to quit his job in the mine and return to his studies. It was at this time that he began his interest in sport; he took up boxing and rugby while attending high school. It was not until 1922, however, that he took up competitive running. The first race that Miles won, a three-mile Dominion Day race in North Sydney, provided him with a 98-pound bag of flour as a prize. [3] In an interview with historian David Frank, Miles described speaking to older miners in his community about his plans to stop working in the mines. According to Miles, “they said no, [he’ll] never get out of the mine, once a young man gets into the mine he never gets out. This is it.” He continued his training; in the summer months he ran the track that he and his father had constructed behind their home and in the winter Miles ran the tram tracks. It is to this training that the phrase on the monument, “Our Champion Running the Rails,” refers. On 17 October 1925, Miles won a ten-mile race in Halifax, and his father then agreed to sponsor his attempt at the Boston Marathon on 19 April 1926.
On 20 April 1926, the headline of the Sydney Daily Post read “John Miles Breaks World Record At Boston.” Miles had defeated Finnish marathoner Albin Stenroos, an Olympic champion, to shave nearly four minutes off the previous world record. [4] When Miles stepped off the train in Sydney Mines one week later, “the uproar was let loose. Whistles blew, autos tooted, and the fire engine’s siren was kept going continuously. The din was terrific.” [5] Miles repeated the feat in 1929, winning the Boston Marathon again in spite of American newspaper assertions that he was a “flash in the pan.” [6] Although Miles later moved to Hamilton, upon a visit to Sydney Mines in 1983 he spoke to a number of people who still remembered the story of the young local miner who beat all the odds to win the Boston Marathon. One man who spoke with Miles exclaimed, “Sure I remember you . . . You’ll never be forgot down here.” The success of a young man from a working-class background, a man who had spent time working in the local mines and went on to win the Boston Marathon, has been a source of pride for the citizens of Florence and Sydney Mines for nearly a century.
Footnotes
[1] Cape Breton Post, 6 September 2008.
[2] John Miles, interview with David Frank, 15 May 1975.
[3] Floyd Williston, Johnny Miles: Nova Scotia’s Marathon King (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1990), 16-18.
[4] Sydney Daily Post, 20 April 1926; Miles’s record was later disputed, as the marathon track was found to be 176 yards short of the “official” distance required. Williston, Johnny Miles, 33.
[5] Sydney Daily Post, 28 April 1926.
[6] Sydney Daily Post, 20 April 1929.
When his father returned from the war in 1919, Miles was able to quit his job in the mine and return to his studies. It was at this time that he began his interest in sport; he took up boxing and rugby while attending high school. It was not until 1922, however, that he took up competitive running. The first race that Miles won, a three-mile Dominion Day race in North Sydney, provided him with a 98-pound bag of flour as a prize. [3] In an interview with historian David Frank, Miles described speaking to older miners in his community about his plans to stop working in the mines. According to Miles, “they said no, [he’ll] never get out of the mine, once a young man gets into the mine he never gets out. This is it.” He continued his training; in the summer months he ran the track that he and his father had constructed behind their home and in the winter Miles ran the tram tracks. It is to this training that the phrase on the monument, “Our Champion Running the Rails,” refers. On 17 October 1925, Miles won a ten-mile race in Halifax, and his father then agreed to sponsor his attempt at the Boston Marathon on 19 April 1926.
On 20 April 1926, the headline of the Sydney Daily Post read “John Miles Breaks World Record At Boston.” Miles had defeated Finnish marathoner Albin Stenroos, an Olympic champion, to shave nearly four minutes off the previous world record. [4] When Miles stepped off the train in Sydney Mines one week later, “the uproar was let loose. Whistles blew, autos tooted, and the fire engine’s siren was kept going continuously. The din was terrific.” [5] Miles repeated the feat in 1929, winning the Boston Marathon again in spite of American newspaper assertions that he was a “flash in the pan.” [6] Although Miles later moved to Hamilton, upon a visit to Sydney Mines in 1983 he spoke to a number of people who still remembered the story of the young local miner who beat all the odds to win the Boston Marathon. One man who spoke with Miles exclaimed, “Sure I remember you . . . You’ll never be forgot down here.” The success of a young man from a working-class background, a man who had spent time working in the local mines and went on to win the Boston Marathon, has been a source of pride for the citizens of Florence and Sydney Mines for nearly a century.
Footnotes
[1] Cape Breton Post, 6 September 2008.
[2] John Miles, interview with David Frank, 15 May 1975.
[3] Floyd Williston, Johnny Miles: Nova Scotia’s Marathon King (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1990), 16-18.
[4] Sydney Daily Post, 20 April 1926; Miles’s record was later disputed, as the marathon track was found to be 176 yards short of the “official” distance required. Williston, Johnny Miles, 33.
[5] Sydney Daily Post, 28 April 1926.
[6] Sydney Daily Post, 20 April 1929.