NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — David V. Bruce, the former director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cattaraugus County, has been running around the world the past few years, and he only has one stop left to say he’s been everywhere.
On May 3, Bruce, 83, will be running in the Patagonia Running Festival in Santiago, Chile, as part of his effort to complete a marathon on all seven continents.
A member of the 50 States Marathon Club, having run a marathon in all 50 states, Bruce has also completed marathons in Greece; Johannesburg, South Africa; Antarctica; Sydney, Australia; and Bhutan.
In his preparations for this race, Bruce said he found out that the name Patagonia came from the explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, which relates to the size of the native people, who appeared to be giants as compared to the Europeans.
“This is a region in the southern part of South America, of which 10% is in Chile, 90% in Argentina,” he said. “This is one of the most pristine places on the planet, comprised of turquoise waters, beautiful glaciers, towering granite mountain horns and enhanced by the Andean deer, the guanacos, the reclusive pumas and the flights of the majestic condors.”
Most of this marathon will be run in the Torres del Paine National Park, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) site close to Santiago. Bruce said the course is on hard-packed gravel trails with views of glaciers and the Andes in the background, temperatures ranging 30–60 degrees Fahrenheit and often strong winds.
The Patagonia Running Festival is ranked No. 20 in the world’s 30 most challenging marathons, with a limited number of 300 runners. Regarding those top 30, Bruce said he has run No. 5 in Boston, No. 9 in Sydney, No. 14 in Africa, No. 22 in Niagara Falls, No. 27 in Athens and No. 29 in Antarctica.
Originally from Moriah, N.Y., Bruce was the CCE director in Cattaraugus County for over 10 years, as well as the 4-H Program Leader for eight years. He left the area in 1985 to become director of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science in Dade County, Fla.
Bruce said he’s often asked why he runs so much, noting it’s not an easy question to answer — “it’s complicated.” One aspect is based on the book, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Attia, M.D., which he said indicates people want to live long, healthy, meaningful lives and modern medicine has increased our lifespans.
“But the quality of life often suffers as we age due to what is referred to as the ‘Four Horsemen’ — heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia,” Bruce said. “It appears that modern medicine focuses on late-stage treatment instead of early prevention. Medicine’s blind spot!”
Besides working for Cornell University’s CCE for over 30 years, Bruce also served as a hospital administrator for a small rural hospital in Alabama as well as overseeing the hospice and home healthcare programs.
For Bruce, this validated the need to be more proactive and focus on early prevention. While not everyone can or should run — especially marathons — he said this was his choice.
“As part of early prevention, I encourage people to think about what they want to personally achieve, their contribution to their communities, the real health benefits — also consider your genetics/family history — and increasing one’s knowledge base of accessing services of professionals and information,” he said.
Regarding marathons, only 1% of the U.S. population has run a marathon, but the popularity of this activity has surged starting in the 1970s. The U.S. Surgeon General in September 2024 indicated the uptick started spiking because of the loneliness epidemic via the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of marathons has skyrocketed, according to the 50 State Marathon Club.
Bruce is available to speak to interested groups on youth development, kindness volunteer programming, healthcare and marathoning as well as one of his other passions — the Kingdom of the Monarchs, based on his trip to Central Mexico, the overwintering home of the Monarch butterflies. He can be reached via email at dvbruce20@gmail.com.
