Jennifer Petahtegoose completes 44th NYC marathon amid high winds

A family pursuit: Art Petahtegoose inspects his daughter Jennifer’s finishers medal from the New York City Marathon.
A family pursuit: Art Petahtegoose inspects his daughter Jennifer’s finishers medal from the New York City Marathon.

By Laura E. Young

SUDBURY – A lottery system, a massive Category 3 Hurricane Sandy, and a cancellation tried. Even the passage of time was not in her favour.

Nearly five years after she first applied to run it, Jennifer Petahtegoose completed the TCS New York City Marathon, the world’s largest marathon, on November 2.

Petahtegoose, a mother of four and high school teacher from Atikameksheng Anishnawbeck First Nation near Sudbury, completed the 42-kilometre run in 6 hours, 47 minutes. It was her first marathon.

“It was absolutely amazing. It felt like a pilgrimage, going through all the old neighbourhoods, the cheering crowds,” she says.

The wind played an “enormous factor” in the 2014 marathon. The wheelchair marathon event was reduced to 32 kilometres.

Petahtegoose recalls running over the Brooklyn Bridge and wanting to hold on for fear of being blown off into the ocean.

“It was so strong (and) very hard running into, as well on some of the streets, but I kept going,” she says.

Prior to the race she thought that this would be her one and only marathon. Afterwards she thinks she may try another. “I really enjoyed the energy.

“Another runner said it restores your faith in humanity, and I believe that.”

And so ended years of trying. In order to enter, runners have to win a spot in a lottery system or run a specific qualifying time for their respective age groups.

“It’s the biggest road race on Turtle Island. I think that’s what draws me to it.”

In 2014, the marathon set a record for the most finishers, at 50,564. The run starts on Staten Island, courses through New York’s five boroughs, and ends in Central Park.

In 2010 she began registering for the lottery where spots are drawn as a means of entering. She got in for 2012.

Then, about one week before the 2012 race, Hurricane Sandy swept most of the eastern seaboard off into the Atlantic Ocean. The marathon was cancelled and runners were given three years to use their entry.

In 2014, she was prepared for New York, knowing she would take walk breaks along the route. She had completed two half-marathon races before New York and felt good, running the entire 21 kilometres.

“I felt like I could keep going and that’s how I knew I could try the full (marathon). I still had energy.”

Petahtegoose is a member of the Elk Clan and believes her need to run is in her blood.

Her mother Elizabeth completed The Great Walk, a 63.5 kilometre ultramarathon in Tahsis, in Nootka Sound, B.C.

Her father Art was a top-flight runner at LoEllen Park Secondary School, competing at provincial championships. It remains the family’s goal to catch up with him, says Jennifer.

Art is still running well into his 60s, heading out to run or walk miles most days of the week around the trails around Atikameksheng Anishnawbeck.

Still, Petahtegoose got her start as a swimmer. She swam for Marymount College in Sudbury and competed in swimming at the 2001 North American Indigenous Games in Winnipeg.

She also enters Pow-wows in northeastern Ontario as a jingle dress dancer. She was a long-time Fancy Shawl dancer. As she runs, she plays inspirational Pow-wow dance music. “It gets me through the runners’ hump,” she says.