When America's celebrity athletes were competitive walkers

During the 1870s and '80s, one of the nation's most popular spectator sports was competitive walking.

The events, in front of sold-out arena crowds, led to doping scandals and made competitors into celebrity athletes. The participants used alcohol as a stimulant, chugging champagne as they rounded the track. Matthew Algeo wrote about the sport in his new book, "Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport."

"These guys were walking 600 miles in six days," Algeo told NPR. "They were on the track almost continuously. They'd have little cots set up inside the track where they would nap a total of maybe three hours a day. But generally, for 21 hours a day, they were in motion walking around the track."

While it was primarily an East Coast phenomenon, Algeo says there was a Minnesota connection.

"One of the last great pedestrianism feats occurred in 1913, when the celebrated pedestrian Edward Payson Weston walked from New York to Minneapolis," he wrote. "He was 78 at the time!"

Algeo will be discussing "Pedestrianism" at Common Good Books in St. Paul at 7 p.m. April 14.