Jarvis Googoo becomes first We’koqma’q runner to finish the Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon has been home to many firsts, but on Monday, Jarvis Googoo of Nova Scotia’s We’koqma’q First Nation became the first runner from his community to complete the Boston Marathon, and he did it in a speedy time of 3:15:07.

Growing up in the We’koqma’q community on western Cape Breton Island, Googoo, now 41, has had a passion for running since he was a teenager. Before the days of GPS watches, he would drive his car around local roads on the reservation, measuring the distance on his odometer and then running the route.

In his last year of high school, Googoo got his 5K times down to 18-ish minutes, and decided to enter a 5,000m race put on by Athletics Nova Scotia. “I thought at the time I entered that I could win,” says Googoo. “I ended up finishing third last. I felt humiliated that I only beat two other people. I took it as a failure.”

After taking 16 years off, Googoo returned to running after being persuaded by his friend to run the Blue Nose 10K, which is a part of Nova Scotia’s Blue Nose Marathon Weekend. Googoo started at the back of the field, but remembers asking his friend if he could run ahead, 40 seconds into the race. 

“Since I was a kid, I’ve always heard about Boston,” says Googoo. “But you never really understand the aura around it until you become a runner.” 

He began looking at qualifying times for Boston in 2016, and planned to qualify for the race in 2020, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. This gave Googoo time to train and hire a coach, Erin Poirier, in the lead-up to the 2021 Blue Nose Marathon. 

“Marathoning is trial and error,” Googoo says. “Having a coach allowed me to believe in myself, which turned me into a stronger runner.”

Googoo ran 3:02:10 at the Blue Nose Marathon in November 2021, which qualified him for Boston. 

Before he left for Boston, members of his community lined the streets of  We’koqma’q and created a send-off video to share their pride. “The rally, the support from my local community was touching,” he says. “It’s a deep honour for me to be the first member of my community at Boston, but I don’t want to be the last.”

“Growing up in western Cape Breton, there were no coaching opportunities,” says Googoo. “Money should not hold people back from what they want to do.”

Googoo’s goal is to attract and inspire more members of his community to the sport. “I am lucky I had the opportunity later in life. A young student may not have the same opportunity.”

Now, Googoo is a representative on the management board for Run Nova Scotia, inspired by the goal of creating an inclusive community for all runners in his province.