The highlight of long distance racing in the Olympics or in any other great athletic meet is the marathon. It gets its name from a legendary run made by a Greek soldier, Pheidippides, in 490 B.C. He raced from the plains of Marathon to Athens to convey the news of a great victory for Athens over an army of invading Persians. The distance he covered was 40 km (25 miles).
In remembrance of the legendary run, in 1896, at the first modern Olympics in Athens, it was decided to stage a long road race. Most of the 16 runners in the first Marathon were Greek, but they were untrained and inexperienced and most of them soon collapsed with exhaustion. The winner, a Greek called Spiros Louis, was finally joined by the Greek royal family who jogged alongside him on the last lap to the finishing line. His victory was a great sensation. The first Boston marathon, the world’s longest-lasting major marathon, was held on 19 April, 1897 for a distance of 39 km (24 miles 132 yds). And the first national marathon championship was that of Norway in 1897.
Since 1924, the marathon has been fixed at 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yds.) This distance was also used for the race at the 1908 Olympic Games, run from Windsor to the White City Stadium – a distance regularly run in about two and a half hours nowadays. However, as marathon courses differ in distance, so the International Amateur Athletic Federation does not list a world record for this event. The marathon race is a fascinating event because neither age nor training seems to play a vital role in winning this race.