The Marathon
Although it has roots in Greek legend, the marathon is one of the most modern of races.
The legend grew up around a famous battle that took place in 490 B.C., when Athenian troops defeated a large Persian invasion force on the plain of Marathon, about 25 miles from Athens.
According to Herodotus, the Athenians sent a military courier named Phidippides (or Pheidippides or Philippides) to request help from Sparta. He covered the distance, about 150 miles, in less than two days.
About 600 years later, the legend arose that Phidippides had been sent to Athens to bring news of the victory at Marathon. After reaching the city, he said, "Rejoice, we conquer," and then died of the exertion--or so the story went.
The legend is almost certainly untrue, but it was generally believed in the late 19th century. One believer was French historian and linguist Michele Breal. As plans took shape for the first modern Olympics at Athens in 1896, Breal proposed re-enacting Phidippides' legendary run. He even offered to put up a silver trophy for the winner.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics, embraced the idea enthusiastically, as did the Athenian organizers. So a 40-kilometer (24.8-mile) race called the marathon was the final, climactic event at the 1896 Olympics.
The first two marathons were actually trials to select Greek runners for the Olympics. The first was held on March 10, 1896, over the proposed Olympic course between Marathon and Athens, and the top three finishers were chosen to represent Greece.
Greek officials held a second trial just a few days before the Olympic opening and added several more runners to the team, including a shepherd named Spiridon Louis, who finished fifth in that trial.
The first Olympic marathon was run on April 10, 1896. Greek athletes had not done well in the events leading up to this grand finale, and the crowd of about 100,000 that lined the course eagerly anticipated a victory by a runner from the host country.
Of the 17 runners, 13 were from Greece, so the odds were good. But the four foreign competitors were all experienced distance runners, though at shorter distances. They included the three top finishers in the 1500-meter run, Edwin Flack of Australia, Arthur Blake of the United States, and Albin Lermusiaux of France, along with Hungary's Gyula Kellner.
More than halfway through the race, those four held the top four spots, with Lermusiaux in the lead. Then an uphill stretch took its toll. Blake dropped out; Kellner was passed by one of the Greek entrants, Charilaos Vasilakos; and Lermusiaux collapsed just before the 20-mile mark.
At that point, Flack held a comfortable lead, but the Greek shepherd, Spiridon Louis, had passed Kellner to move into second place. A bicyclist pedaled to the stadium to announce that Flack would win.
Flack had never come close to running 25 miles before, however, and he began to falter. Louis caught and passed him at about the 21-mile mark and, about 2 1/2 miles further on, Flack fell and was carried off the course.
With Flack out of the race, Greek runners held the first three places, with Louis comfortably in the lead. A second messenger, on horseback, rode to the stadium and delivered the news to the royal box. Word spread quickly and the predominantly Greek crowd began celebrating.
When Louis entered Athens, he had to fight his way through a welcoming crowd. Crown Prince Nicholas and Prince George joined him when he entered the stadium, ran with him to the finish line, and then carried him to the royal box to be congratulated by the king.
Charilaos Vasilakos finished second, more than seven minutes behind Louis, followed by Spiridon Belokas and Kellner. However, Belokas was eventually disqualified when it was revealed that he had taken a ride in a carriage for part of the race, and Kellner was awarded third place.
Because of the dramatic finish and the crowd's enthusiasm, the marathon became a permanent fixture of the Olympics. Officials of the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which had brought a team of athletes to Athens, inaugurated the Boston Marathon the following year, at a distance of 24.5 miles.
The current official marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was established purely by accident at the 1908 Olympics in London. The course was originally laid out to be 26 miles long from Windsor Castle to the finish line in the stadium. However, it was then decided to add 385 yards so that the race would finish at the royal box. In 1924, Olympic officials formally adopted the distance as official.
The annual Boston event and the quadrennial Olympic run were the only regularly-scheduled marathons for more than a quarter of a century, although other marathons were run from time to time.
The jogging and running boom of the 1960s led to a marathon boom in the 1970s, when many recreational runners became interested in running the distance. The New York Marathon, established in 1970, quickly became a major rival of the Boston Marathon. Other annual marathons sprang up throughout the world.
In 2006, five major marathons—Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York—established the World Marathon Majors competition, offering $500,000 bonuses to the male and female runners who accumulate the most points running in those races during 2006 and 2007. Runners get 25 points for winning a race, 15 for second place, 10 for third, 5 for fourth and 1 point for fifth.
The competition is spread over two years because runners generally limit themselves to two marathons a year. The first bonuses will be awarded in the fall of 2007.
During the spring and fall, which are the peak marathon seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, there are as many as a half-dozen marathons every weekend in the United States alone, and at least three or four in other countries.
In 1999, a total of 435,000 runners finished at least one marathon in the United States alone.
