MY KOLKATA EDUGRAPH
ADVERTISEMENT
regular-article-logo Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Olympic marathoner Jerome Drayton dies at 80 during knee surgery, Canada mourns its hero

Among other achievements, the athlete won the 1977 Boston Marathon, 1969 Detroit's Motor City Marathon and the 1973 Canadian championship

AP Published 13.02.25, 10:41 AM
Jerome Drayton

Jerome Drayton Instagram/@towaterfront42k

Jerome Drayton, who finished sixth at the Montreal Olympics, won the 1977 Boston Marathon and held the Canadian men's marathon record for 43 years, has died. He was 80.

Drayton died unexpectedly on Monday in Toronto, according to Cardinal Funeral Homes. Runners World magazine said he died during knee surgery.

ADVERTISEMENT

Born in Germany with the name Peter Buniak, Drayton changed his name after immigrating to Canada in 1956. He won Detroit's Motor City Marathon in 1969 in a North American record time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, and shaved 47 seconds off the mark in winning the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan later that year.

He won the 1973 Canadian championship before finishing third in Boston in 1974. Three years later — his fifth try in Boston — he pulled ahead when eventual four-time winner Bill Rodgers began to tire in the 77-degree heat and gave Canada its first victory in the race in three decades. Drayton finished second at the New York Marathon that fall.

“Jerome remains the most recent Open Division Men's Champion from Canada, and set the stage for generations of world class Canadian marathoners to follow in his footsteps,” Boston Athletic Association President Jack Fleming said.

Drayton also set a world record on the track for the 10-mile run in 1970 in 46:37.6, and was the top Canadian in the men's marathon at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The Canada Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1978, said that Drayton held 12 national titles and set 13 records in his career.

After retiring, Drayton worked as a consultant with the Sports and Fitness Division of Ontario's Ministry of Youth, Culture and Recreation.

“He was a runner who cared not only about his own performance but the growth and development of the sport," Fleming said. “The feedback and interest he showed in the Boston Marathon undoubtedly helped shape the marathon in the late 70s and beyond.”

Follow us on:
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT