One of Canada’s greatest distance runners, Jerome Drayton, died unexpectedly on Monday in Toronto at the age of 80.
Drayton was considered a pioneer in Canadian marathoning, ranking among the top marathoners in the world during the 1970s. He won the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon in Japan on three occasions and was the last Canadian to win the Boston Marathon in 1977.
The Toronto Olympic Club athlete had a long and successful career in marathoning, recording nearly a dozen international wins and achieving a sixth-place finish at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. In 1978, Drayton was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Drayton’s best performance came at the 1975 Fukuoka Marathon, where he set a Canadian men’s marathon record of 2:10:09. His record stood the test of time until it was broken 43 years later by Cam Levins at the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
What would Jerome Drayton’s marathon time be with today’s shoe technology?
Born on January 10, 1945, in Germany, Drayton and his family moved to Canada in the 1950s after his parents separated. His birth name was Peter Buniak, but as an avid track and field fan, he changed his name to Jerome Drayton in admiration of two sprinters: Harry Jerome and Paul Drayton.
There will be a service held in honour for Drayton on Friday, Feb. 14, at St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Toronto at 11 a.m.
Jerome Drayton: Ahead of Time
