Maureen "Moe" Wilton (born November 30, 1953) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

long-distance runner who is recognized by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

as having set a

world best A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the marathon on May 6, 1967, with a time of 3:15:23 in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. Wilton, who started running when she was nine years old, was 13 when she set the mark; it was her first marathon and run on an unpaved Eastern Canadian Marathon Championships course. Her time broke the previous record, set in 1964, by more than four minutes. Wilton was coached by Thian "Sy" Mah. Mah would complete his first marathon that day, then go on to set a

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

mark for the most lifetime marathons. Invited by Mah,

Kathrine Switzer Kathrine Virginia Switzer (born January 5, 1947) is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator. In 1967, she became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor. During her run, race man ...

also ran the marathon that day - only sixteen days after her historic run at the Boston Marathon. Wilton reportedly told Switzer, who finished about an hour behind her, that she was interested in

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

more than running. Wilton stopped running at the age of 17, though she did compete at the World Cross-Country Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, when she was 15. As an adult, Wilton worked in the

financial industry Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

, has two children, and is married (now known as Maureen Mancuso). Only when her daughter began competitive running did Wilton take up the sport again and share her running history with her. Wilton and Switzer ran the Toronto GoodLife Half Marathon together in 2010, the reunion documented by John Chipman in a CBC Radio documentary entitled "Did my Mom ever Run?" A book about her life and achievement, ''Mighty Moe: The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women's Running Revolutionary'', was released on October 15, 2019.

Notes

References

External links

Photos on Flickr: Maureen Wilton's Marathon World Record Run on May 6, 1967
1953 births Living people World record setters in athletics (track and field) Canadian female long-distance runners Canadian female marathon runners {{Canada-athletics-bio-stub