Andarín Carvajal

Who was Andarín Carvajal?

Félix de la Caridad Carvajal y Soto, known as Andarín Carvajal was a famous Cuban runner.

Born in San Antonio de los Baños, Carvajal lived in poverty his entire life before his death in Havana.

During his life he was a mailman doing walking and running exhibitions in the streets of la Havana to raise money to buy a ticket to go to the olympic games in St. Louis, Carvajal travelled to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the 1904 Summer Olympics to participate in the Olympic marathon. Since the boat took him to Key West, he had to run from Key West to St. Louis to be able to get to his event on time. Carvajal got to the starting line just 5 minutes before the race started he had to run in street clothes that he cut around the legs to make them look like shorts. Carvajal was leading the race until he saw an apple tree, and, having not eaten for more than forty hours, ate some apples, causing a strong stomach ache. After recovering, Carvajal rallied to finish fourth.

The Spanish language book Félix Carvajal, corredor de maratón, by Bernardo José Mora, was written on his life.