In the United States and Great Britain in the 19th century, there was a competitive activity that at one time might have been the most popular sport in either country.

Tens of thousands of people would show up to witness it live, and the top athletes got endorsement deals and had their own

trading cards and of course tremendous amounts of money was wagered on the

outcomes however it wasn't football baseball cricket or boxing it was

competitive walking.

Learn more about pedestrianism,

aka competitive walking,

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. daily. As hard as it may be to believe, one of the most popular sports in the 19th

century was walking, or as it was known at the time pedestrianism. Before the rise of

team sports like Association football, American football, rugby, baseball, and

cricket, the biggest sports were individual sports like boxing and pedestrianism.

While pedestrianism was competitive walking it wasn't quite like the similar

events we have today. More on that in a bit. The origins of pedestrianism are believed to date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

Wealthy British who owned their own carriages or coaches would have footmen who often followed along on foot while they rode in the carriage. They naturally began to

bet each other on the ability of their footmen and how far and how fast they could walk.

These pedestrian contests began to appear at fairs in other festivals. The walking contests weren't like the races we have today.

They tended to be endurance races and very long distance affairs.

For example, track might be set up and the contest would be to see who could walk the most

laps in 24 hours. In the late 18th century in Britain several people began to

engage in feats of extreme walking which grabbed the public's attention. Perhaps the first celebrity pedestrian was a man by the name of Foster Powell.

His walking career began in 1764 when he walked the 50-mile road from London to Bath in seven hours on a bed. His biggest claim to fame

was that in 1773 he walked from London to York and back again. The total distance

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