STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY THOMAS SMILEY

Thomas Smiley grew up listening to stories of how his grandfather survived a bayonet attack during World War II.

The story was the stuff of legends in his family. And, so, when he went to found a challenging backcountry run in the backcountry surrounding Sun Valley that will be held this year on Oct. 4, he named the race “Legends Never Die” after his grandfather.

Taylor Sundali runs through the fall colors during last year’s run.

“He was a legend and he inspired it,” Smiley said.

Capt. Thomas Smiley Sr. was serving as a surgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps in mid-September 1942 when the Japanese committed what some call one of the most despicable acts of inhumanity in the Far East theatre of war.

The Imperial Japanese Army ignored doctors waving the Red Cross, attacking a Singapore hospital filled with 900 wounded patients as they invaded Singapore. During the heat of conflict, Smiley, who had been operating on a patient, was stabbed with a bayonet in the chest and the groin. But the cigarette case in his shirt pocket deflected the bayonet blade.

“He pretended to be dead so he escaped the massacre, but 300 people died in that conflict. Then, he went to work tending the wounds of the survivors,” said Thomas Smiley III, who owns a photography business in Sun Valley. “His survival was nothing short of miraculous and he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. He was lucky and his story is just a legend that lives on.”

Taylor Sundali won last year’s Men’s Half Marathon.

This year’s race will be held Saturday, Oct. 4, at Oregon Gulch just north of Ketchum. It will feature 70 ultra runners and 130 half-marathon runners. Registration is still open at https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=122907.

The event includes $1,000 worth of prizes from sponsors.

Part of the proceeds will be donated to Higher Ground Sun Valley, which provides adaptive and therapeutic recreation to disabled youth and adults and veterans. The rest will be given to the Wood River Trails Coalition, which has been maintaining and building local trails in the face of Forest Service cuts.

“I named it Legends Never Die to keep the story alive. The spirit, courage and impact of those like my grandfather live on—even when the person is long gone,” Smiley said. “They remind us of what’s possible, and they push us forward when we’re tested.”

Runners celebrate Legends Never Die.

Smiley III, who grew up in New Zealand but married an American, started the run during the COVID pandemic—a testament in and of itself to the legendary aspects of the run.

“I started running, and I thought others might want to join in,” he said. “It started with 40 people, and each year more people have joined. We now get 200 runners, which is the maximum we can have based on the Forest Service permit.”

Over the past four years Legends Never Die has donated more than $4,000 to Higher Ground, the Wood River Trails Coalition, Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and Soles4Souls.

“We humans are storytellers. Around campfires, at kitchen tables or out on the trail, we pass down the stories that inspire us,” said Smiley. “Over time, those stories grow, shaped by memory and myth, until the person or the moment becomes something greater: a legend.”