The Tom Longboat Run will celebrate 24 years running next month, with the event set to take place June 4 at the Six Nations Community Hall.

The annual event has been running since 2000, welcoming people from all ages and backgrounds to come and participate in the variety of different options. This year, participants will have the option to join either the 1 Kilometer Toddler Walk; the 5 Kilometer walk, run or bike event; or the 10 Kilometer run or bike event.

Tom Longboat was born on Six Nations and later became the first Indigenous marathon runner to win the Boston Marathon in 1907. Longboat also served as a dispatch runner for Canadian Forces in the First World War.

Cindy Martin, Traditional Wellness Coordinator for Six Nations Health Promotion, spoke with CJKS on the significance that Tom Longboat represents to the Six Nations community.

"He's one of us; he's Onondaga Wolf Clan and people just have cherished him because he was still a traditional man, spoke the language and attended longhouse ceremonies. Many of his family and relatives, his descendants live here in the community," she said. "This collaboration that has grown over the last 24 years has been extraordinary. We all have that sense of pride not only because running is a inherent ability that we have but it also helps us remember our traditional runners that carried messages from community to community before there was vehicles."

Martin spoke on the important role that the event plays within the community and how it promotes a healthy lifestyle.

"It's really a family event. People are bringing their children and strollers and wagons and little bicycles," she said. "It's important for us to be active throughout our life. Being active for life is something that we should be doing daily. It's to prevent diabetes, prevent heart disease, just to keep our bodies moving. I go to the various tracks in the community and everybody is walking or running, so it's very inspiring to see everybody on the move."

The 24th Tom Longboat Run will take place Sunday June 4 at the Six Nations Community Hall. Registration starts at 8 a.m, opening addresses starts and 8:30 a.m. and the run will begin at 9 a.m. Volunteers are still needed for the event, for more information you can contact Cindy Martin at 519-754-5826 or by email at cindymartin@sixnations.ca.

For the full CJKS story listen below: