The 19th-Century Walking Sport That Drew Big Crowds

In the late 19th century, walking became a major sport on both sides of the Atlantic. The craze, called pedestrianism, packed arenas in Britain and the United States where athletes hustled around tracks for days on end. Crowds filled the stands, gamblers placed heavy bets, and newspapers reported the distances as if they were election results.

“Unlike elite sports such as rugby or rowing, walking required no special equipment or social standing,” says Nick Fleeman, a competitive racewalker with Winchester & District Athletics Club and author of A Tale of Two Walks. “That made pedestrianism accessible to working-class people, and it created folk heroes who competed not just for money, but for pride and the chance at lasting fame.”

Pedestrianism’s roots stretch back to the early 1800s, when feats of long-distance walking became popular wagers among Britain’s upper classes. Wealthy patrons would bet on their footmen to walk a specific distance in a set time. The pastime evolved into a professional sport with arenas, promoters and celebrity competitors.

Coverage spread to the United States, where newspapers chronicled the feats of London’s top walkers. The Record on March 11, 1812, reported a Mr. Mealing’s “Herculean task” of walking 30 miles a day for 18 days, while Zebulon Jennings was praised in 1822 for covering 28 miles in a storm in just over four hours—faster, the article claimed, than the mail stage between New York City and Philadelphia.

By the mid-19th century, American cities were staging their own endurance walks at fairgrounds, town halls and makeshift tracks. At first, these were local contests for modest prizes, but the sport soon tapped into a wider fascination. In a country rapidly industrializing, the ability to outlast fatigue became a kind of public virtue.

And no one embodied this better than Edward Payson Weston, recognized as the father of American pedestrianism. “When Abraham Lincoln was running for president, Weston bet a friend that if Lincoln won he would walk from Boston to Washington for the inauguration in 1861,” says Matthew Algeo, author of Pedestrianism. “Lincoln did win, and he made good on the bet. Along the way, he alerted newspapers to announce his arrival, turning each stop into a spectacle.”

In 1867, Weston again made headlines when he walked over 1,200 miles from Portland, Maine, to Chicago. The Springfield Daily Republican reported on November 30, 1867, that his arrival drew crowds so large the police could barely clear a path. His flair for publicity helped lift pedestrianism from a betting novelty into a full-fledged spectator sport in America.

Unlike a simple footrace, pedestrian matches were marathons of stamina. The winner was the competitor who had logged the greatest distance by the final bell. Scorekeepers marked progress on giant chalkboards, while referees ensured that each step was taken without breaking into a run, a violation that could disqualify a competitor. Sleep was scarce. A few hours’ rest on a cot in a side tent could mean losing valuable mileage to rivals.

Athletes experimented with strange diets to keep themselves moving, including beef tea, oysters, champagne and even shots of whiskey. The toll on the body was immense. Some walkers hallucinated, weaving across the track in a daze. But the potential rewards were enormous, often thousands of dollars.

Six-day races, where competitors walked almost nonstop from Monday until midnight Saturday, became especially popular, with Sunday left free for church in an era of strict Sabbath observance. While amateur walkers might aim for 100 miles in a day, top professionals routinely covered 500 miles in a six-day race.

The crowds reflected the sport’s wide appeal. Factory workers, clerks and dockhands rubbed shoulders with society gentlemen and gamblers. Women became involved, both as enthusiastic spectators and as competitors. “The pedestrian mania has proved that women can walk,” boasted the Philadelphia Chronicle in 1879. “Married men will remember this when their wives ask them to carry their babies.”

Weston’s own success inspired a wave of challengers, many of whom became celebrities in their own right. “The first great race was between Weston and an Irish immigrant named Daniel O’Leary,” says Algeo.

In 1874, O’Leary stunned crowds by beating Weston in a six-day contest. Other competitors soon joined the circuit, such as Charles Rowell of England, known for his steady pace and iron discipline, and Frank Hart, a Black athlete from Boston. In 1880, Hart walked 565 miles in six days, a performance that won him not just prize money but nationwide acclaim.

The sport reached its height in the 1870s and 1880s with the creation of the Astley Belt races. Sir John Astley, a British sports promoter known as the “Sporting Colonel,” sponsored a series of international competitions to crown the world’s best pedestrian. The Astley Belt races brought together top competitors from around the world. They were held first in London’s Agricultural Hall and later in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

“Betting elevated the drama and stakes,” says Fleeman. “Spectators bet on everything, not just who would win, but who might drop out, who would collapse, even who might vomit first. Athletes often wagered on themselves.” But with that excitement came volatility. Scandals over race-fixing, heavy drinking among competitors and unruly crowds began to tarnish pedestrianism’s reputation. What once thrilled audiences now felt repetitive, as walkers circled indoor tracks for days on end.

By the late 1880s, the sport’s popularity was waning. Faster, flashier entertainments emerged, bicycles captured the imagination and newly organized team sports like baseball and football offered clearer winners and livelier action. The rise of the Olympic movement, with its emphasis on purity and prestige over prize money, also challenged pedestrianism’s seedy reputation. Even so, race walking has been part of the Summer Olympics since 1904.

And while the sport itself has largely faded, its legacy lingers. In many ways, pedestrianism walked so modern sports like the ultramarathon could run.