Johannes Maria Haw (b. 26 May 1871; d. 28 October 1949) was a German Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Johannesbund of Leutesdorf and of the religious communities of the Community of the Sisters of St John of Mary the Queen (Ordensgemeinschaft der Johannesschwestern von Maria Königin) and the Society of Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist (die Gemeinschaft der Missionare vom Hl. Johannes dem Täufer).
Mackay lived in Berlin from 1896 onwards, and became a friend of scientist and Gemeinschaft der Eigenen co-founder Benedict Friedlaender.
Ludwig Fahrenkrog and his Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft represent a specifically Germanic approach within the "Nordic" group.
Prior to that, the sport was organized under the auspices of more localized bodies where the first official competitions were held, like the Interessen-Gemeinschaft Älterer Langstreckenläufer (IGÄL) formed in 1968 in Germany, British Veteran Athletic Club in Great Britain and the AAU in the United States.