Every year, there is one sports event that is organized all over the world, “The Marathon”. Running has a unique trait because no matter your speed, capabilities, preparations you are making, you do not need to be a professional athlete or a member of a club. You need will and proper training alone. Moreover, regarding a marathon, you can participate in any marathon in any corner of the world, you just need to get there and run. This thing is almost impossible for other sporting events, such as tennis or football.
But, what is the marathon, from where it got its name, how it started, why it is limited for 42.195km why it was not 42.00km or 43km (the question is why they choose this distance) and the most important of all questions is: ”How many types of marathons do we have, are there other distance marathons”?
“Phidippides” announcing the victory of Athens before he collapsed.
To begin with, the marathon race got its name after the city of “Marathon” in Greece, it was inspired by the legend of
“Philipiddes” (also known as Pheidipiddes). The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought). The battle took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming “nenikekamen” (We won), before collapsing and dying.[i]
But history does not mention the exact routes he followed, and hence, we do not know the exact distance he covered. He may had run more or less nobody can specify, for instance, “Mount Penteli stands between Marathon and Athens, which means that, if Pheiddipides actually made his famous run after the battle, he had to run around the mountain, either to the north or to the south. The latter and more obvious route matches almost exactly the modern Marathon- Athens highway, which follows the lie of the land southwards from Marathon Bay and along the coast, then takes a gentle but protracted climb westwards towards the eastern approach to Athens, between the foothills of Mounts
A map showing the routes that “Philippides” may have taken.
Hymettus and Penteli, and then gently downhill to Athens properly. This route, as it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, was approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, and this was the approximate distance originally used for marathon races. However there have been suggestions that Pheidippides might have had followed another route: a westward climb along the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Penteli to the Pass of Dionysos, and then a straight southward downhill path to Athens. This route is considerably shorter, some 35 kilometers (22 mi), but includes a very steep initial climb of more than 5 kilometers (3.1 mi).[ii]
The Marathon as a sport did not take place until the Olympic Games in 1896 when the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, recalling the ancient glory of Greece. The idea of a marathon race came from Michel Breal, who wanted the event to feature in the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was heavily supported by Pierre De Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, as well as by the Greeks. The Greeks staged a selection race for the Olympic marathon on 10 March 1896 that was won by Chariloas Vasilakos in 3 hours and 18 minutes.[iii]
Besides, for a long time after the Olympic marathon started, there were no long-distance races, such as the marathon, for women. The Marathon as a sport did not take place until the Olympic Games in 1896 when the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, recalling the ancient glory of Greece. The idea of a marathon race came from Michel Breal, who wanted the event to feature in the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was heavily supported by Pierre De Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, as well as by the Greeks. The Greeks staged a selection race for the Olympic marathon on 10 March 1896 that was won by Chariloas Vasilakos in 3 hours and 18 minutes.[iii]
Although a few women had run the marathon distance, they were not included in any official results. “Marie-Louise Ledru has been credited as the first woman to race a marathon. Violet Piercy has been credited as the first woman to be officially timed in a marathon. For challenging the long-held tradition of all-male marathon running in the Boston Marathon, in 1967, Kathrine Switzer is regarded as the first woman to run a marathon as a numbered entry, but did so unofficially, due to a fluke in the entry process. Bobbo Gibb had completed the Boston race unofficially the previous year, and was later recognized by the race organizers as the women’s winner for that year as well as 1967 & 1968.[iv]
The early start of the marathon did not have a fixed length until 1924. The distance varied between 40km and 42km. The first 42.195km race took place in London Olympics in 1908, in 1912 it was 40km, while in 1920 it was 42.75km. In 1921, the “IAAF” agreed on setting the distance to 42.195km, nobody knows the exact reasons for such a decision but maybe –and most probably- because of the great emotions and events that took place in the London Marathon of 1908.
For what happened in London Marathon,the “marathons.ahotu.com” states the following: “It is commonly said that the distance was set to 26 miles 385 yards because of the Royal family. During the preparation of the summer Olympiads, it had been agreed that the organizers would include a marathon of about 40 km or 25 miles. The British officials, desirous to accommodate the King of England, started the race at Windsor Castle and finished at the Royal box in the Olympic Stadium—a distance of precisely 26 miles 385 yards”.[v]
Another emotional incident occurred in that race, on the finish line, when “Dorandi Pietri” an Italian runner who was leading the race collapsed at the end of the race and he was helped by officials to finish it, unfortunately he was disqualified later due to the help he got and “Johnnie Hayes” was declared winner. On this incident the “Wikipedia” states the following: “The official report lists the leaders at each mile from the fourth to the twenty-fourth: Thomas Jack (miles 4–5); Frederick Lord (miles 6–14); Charles Hefferon (miles 15–24). Dorando Pietri of Italy caught Hefferon and sped up between Old Oak Common Lane and Wormwood Scrubs. He was the first to enter the stadium, but was already exhausted, and the most famous incident of the entire Games ensued.
Pietri turned the wrong way onto the track, and after turning round, collapsed several times as he progressed. Not far from the finish-line, two of the officials — Jack Andrew, the clerk of the course; and Dr Michael Bulger of the Irish Amateur Athletic Association, the chief medical officer that day — went to his aid. As a consequence the runner-up, American Johnny Hayes protested, leading to Pietri’s disqualification.
The dramatic finish of the 1908 Olympic marathon led to worldwide marathon fever. In a postcard sent at the time, an American spectator said he had “just seen the greatest race of the century”. Since Pietri himself had not been responsible for his disqualification Queen Alexandra the next day awarded him a gold or silver-gilt cup in recognition of his achievement.[vi]
Pietri and Hayes both turned professional and there were several re-matches over the distance of 26 miles 385 yards. Many other marathons adopted that distance, including the important Polytechnic Marathon. The IAAF minutes are reportedly silent as to the reason the 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) was chosen in 1921, so any conclusion must be speculative, but regardless of any possible emotional attachment to the distance of the “race of the century”, the London 1908 distance had established itself worldwide by that time”.
While we get the origins of the marathon clearer, we should look further into the special needs part. Many marathons feature a wheelchair division. Typically, those in the wheelchair racing division start their races earlier than their running counterparts.
“The first wheelchair marathon was in 1974 in Toledo, Ohio, won by Bob Hall in 2:54. Hall competed in the 1975 Boson Marathon and finished in 2:58, inaugurating the introduction of wheelchair divisions into the Boston Marathon. From 1977 the race was declared the US National Wheelchair championship. The Boston Marathon awards $10,000 to the winning push-rim athlete. Ernst Van Dyk has won the Boston Marathon wheelchair division nine times and holds the world record at 1:18:27, set in Boston in 2004. Jean Driscoll won eight times (seven consecutively) and holds the women’s world record at 1:34:22.[vii]
Finally, recently it has become more familiar to organize short distance races and call them marathons. It is a fact that we, as runners we receive a lot of invitations for (races) called the “5km marathon” or the “marathon race for 10km” or “the XYZ marathon race for 6km”, etc … So are these considered marathons?
The answer is simply NO. There is one and only race called the “Marathon” which is measured at 42.195km. All other races varying from 0km to 42.194km are just different races. We call the 21 km race a “Half Marathon”, while other races which are longer than 42.195km are named “Ultra Marathons” –usually they vary between 100-250km- and they need special training and preparations and they take several days, in several stages.
Resources:
[i] – Wikipedia
[ii]- idem
[iii] -idem
[iv] I-dem
[vi]-marathons.ahotu.com
[vii] -Wikipedia
[viii] -idem
Photos: Opening Photo: “www.timblr.com
Rest of the photos:Wikipedia